Shimla, December 3
Notwithstanding the tall claims of the government about reducing its carbon emissions, approximately 2,000 buses of the Himachal Roadways Transport Corporation (HRTC) are plying without pollution check certificates as the smoke meters in all its depots are out of order.

The only exception is the Chamba depot and the 27 buses under it.

While obtaining a pollution-check certificate for all vehicles has been made mandatory, but when it comes to the 1965 buses of the HRTC, nobody is really bothered.

The pollution-check machines in the 23 depots of the HRTC have been out of order for the past more than a year.

Officials at 17 depots admitted that though the machines had been installed, the HRTC buses were not being checked due to this reason. These depots include the three depots of Dhalli, Tara Devi, Solan, Una, Dehra, Mandi, Bilaspur, Dharamshala, Baijnath, Rohru, Rampur and Sarkaghat.

TG Negi, Principal Secretary, Transport, said he was not aware of the fact. “If this is true, I will ask the Managing Director, HRTC, to get the machines repaired and then, get all buses checked for pollution,” he said.

The plying of buses without pollution control assumes significance in the wake of the fact that the footprint inventory prepared by the Department of Environment has indicated that land transport is one of the biggest carbon emitter as there are over 6 lakh vehicles, including those of tourists, which ply in the state annually.

Solan, December 3
With the Department of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) detecting inflow of funds from Dawood Ibrahim’s henchmen in the pharmaceutical firms of Baddi and Paonta Sahib, where large-scale psychotropic drugs had been seized by a DRI team in October, a new twist has been added to the controversial pharmaceutical units case.

DRI sources revealed that a doctor based at New Jersey, who was a front man of the D- Company, was a partner in the Paonta Sahib-based Accurate Pharma.

The DRI had earlier raided three pharmaceutical units including Ten Star in Baddi; and Accurate Pharma and Sea Pharma in Paonta Sahib on October 25 and October 29.

While a huge cache of psychotropic drugs including ketamine, pseudoephedrine and ephedrine had been seized from Ten Star, the DRI team had found un-billed party drugs from the two Paonta Sahib-based units at a rave party in some metros.

The sources also confirmed another accused -Nilesh Shukla who was arrested in this case - was constantly in touch with this doctor who was managing this racket in India.

A search of the laptop and Blackberry phone of Shukla had led the DRI to establish this link.

Health and Ayurveda Minister Dr Rajiv Bindal said he had not received any report from the DRI regarding funding by the D-Company. But he added that that they had suspended and terminated the licence of the erring firms after this revelation.

He added that the strength of drug inspectors was being enhanced with six more posts of drug inspectors having been advertised.

He said no such violation of norms would be tolerated and the government was serious about dealing with such irregularities.

He said though the DRI had raided units in other states too, but no such action has been highlighted and Himachal was being specifically targeted.

Though these three units, which were under the scanner of the DRI, had a licence to manufacture veterinary drugs, these had been manufacturing drugs for human use. In addition, though the quota given for the manufacture of psychotropic drugs was limited in every state, their use was found over and above the allotted quota.

Drug Controller Navneet Marwaha said that they were cooperating with the DRI to ensure that no such nefarious activity would take place in the state.

Sources also revealed that the DRI was now investigating the role of local courier agencies which could have been transporting these drugs from Himachal to Delhi and other places.

They were also investigating the procedures adopted to grant licence in the state besides the quota of psychotropic substances used for manufacturing specific drugs.

Dharamsala, December 3
The UPA government ignored the unanimous advice of Parliament’s Standing Committee on Commerce on allowing Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in the retail sector.

The Chairman of the committee, Shanta Kumar, stated this in a press note issued here today.

He said that the parliamentary committee was unanimously opposed to FDI in the retail sector. In its last meeting, the committee had sought lots of information from the UPA government on the issue. However, the government has been dithering on providing it.

While the committee was yet to get the information, the government had taken the decision of allowing FDI in the retail sector.

He said that it was the contempt of committee that is also referred to as mini-Parliament.

Shanta Kumar claimed that Walmart company of the US has a turnover of Rs 14 lakh crore whereas the entire annual budget of the Indian Government is Rs 11 lakh crore.

He alleged that Walmart had declared in the US that it would spent Rs 60 crore on lobbying to allow FDI in the retail sector in India.

In the US, lobbying is legal, but the companies involved have to publicly declare it.

The government should order an inquiry into how that Rs 60 crore was spent by Walmart, he said.

Shanta Kumar claimed that FDI in the retail sector would render approximately 3 crore small retailers jobless.

He said that the aviation industry in the country required foreign direct investment. Since the sector does not deal with the common man, FDI in aviation should have been allowed. Instead of allowing FDI in the aviation sector, the government has allowed it in the retail sector.

He alleged that multinational companies were trying to monopolise the Indian drug market. They had already bought two leading Indian drug manufacturing companies including Ranbaxy and Dabur. They had also taken an undertaking from the proprietors of these companies that they would not re-enter the drug sector.

Dharamsala, December 3
The stalemate over the price of cement between the representatives of cement companies and the Himachal Government continues.

Highly placed sources told The Tribune that the meeting between the representatives of cement companies and officials of the Department of Industry remained inconclusive.

In the three-hour meeting held yesterday, department officials made it clear to the representatives of the companies that the government wanted a significant reduction in cement prices in the state.

They have been maintaining that the prices of cement in Himachal should at least be lesser than adjoining state Punjab. This means that the companies will have to reduce prices by Rs 25 to Rs 50 per bag in various areas of Himachal.

The cement company representatives have, however, not given any assurance on the reduction in prices. They have told the government representatives that they would have to consult their seniors over the issue.

With government and cement companies sticking to their stands, no new date for further consultations has been fixed.

Kishan Kapoor, Minister for Industries, said, “We have made our stand very clear to the cement companies. We would wait for a few days for their response. However, if they do not reduce the prices, the government will be free to take the future course of action.”

Earlier, the companies had offered to reduce cement prices by Rs 10 per 50 kg bag in the state. However, sources here said that the state government was expecting a cut of Rs 15 to 20 per bag.

The Department of Industries has based its demand on the fact that a Union government commission formed for the calculation of cement prices in the country had estimated the production cost of a 50 kg cement bag at Rs 136.

With the current price index, the cost of production of a 50 kg cement bag for industry in Himachal comes to about Rs 150.

The government has maintained that despite all kinds of taxation, the cement industry was making exorbitant profits at the cost of common Himachal residents.

Kishan Kapoor has maintained that a cement bag was being sold in Himachal at rates ranging from Rs 330 to Rs 350. In Punjab, its cost was lesser by Rs 25 to Rs 50.

In a communication to cement industry representatives, he has maintained that a leading company was selling cement produced in Madhya Pradesh at a cost of Rs 227 per bag in distant Faridabad district of Haryana. However, the cement produced in Solan district was being sold at Rs 300 or more even in the adjoining areas in the state.

He added that the state government was providing about Rs 300 crore subsidy in terms of excise duty waiver and Rs 39 crore as transport subsidy to the cement industry in the state. In addition, the cement industry in Himachal was getting cheaper power.

The cement industry of Himachal has, however, maintained that the high cost of cement in state was due to high transportation cost. They stated that truck unions of the state were charging exorbitant rates from the cement industry that was being transferred to the consumers.

Mandi/Chatri, December 3
With his eyes set on the Assembly poll in 2012, Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal blamed the UPA-II government for the sharp hike in the price of essential commodities.

He also said that the 21-km-long Chhatri-Gada Gushaini Road, built at a cost of Rs 2.78 crore, and the Rs 1.3 crore Rana Bagh Bridge has opened up the valley for a tourism boom as the road will make Janjheli-Chhatri-Banjar a new tourist circuit in the state.

Addressing a public meeting at Chhatri in Seraj constituency, the Chief Minister said it would improve connectivity in remote areas.

As many as 37 panchayats in Mandi district have been linked by roads in the past four years. The Chhatri-Gada Gushaini Road had connected six gram panchayats. The valley would emerge as a new tourist destination as it was now connected to Manali, he added. He said that Tehsildar Thunag will dispose off all revenue cases by sitting at Chhatri during the last week of every month.

Blaming the Congress at the Centre for the price rise, Dhumal said his government was providing Rs 316 crore subsidy on electricity and essential commodities to consumers while the Centre had no control over prices.

He counted various social and health schemes launched by the government benefiting each section in the state.

Under the Mata Shabri Mahlia Sashaktikaran Yojna, women of poor families were getting 50 per cent subsidy on gas connection and purchase of stove, he added.

The Chief Minister announced Rs 22 lakh for various local link roads, upgrade of various schools and additional accommodation in the local rest house.

Seraj BJP MLA and Rural Development Minister Jai Ram Thakur said Chhatri-Gada Gushaini Road has linked remote villages and has reduced Mandi-Chatri distance by 45 km.

The Chhatri-Janjheli road link via Magru Gala is under construction for which Rs 2.75 crore is being spent, he added.

Shimla, December 3
Even though the autopsy report of Pawan Kumar, who died while in police custody in the Boileauganj police station, has indicated suicide as the cause of death but a former BJP legislator, Bhagat Ram Chauhan, today demanded a judicial inquiry into the incident.

Chauhan, who met the parents of the deceased today, said a judicial inquiry should be ordered by the government into the circumstances leading to the death of the youth.

“It appears that he was beaten up by policemen resulting in his death, which is being covered up by the police by terming it as a suicide,” he said.

Pawan who had 31cases registered against him had been arrested on November 30 on charges of snatching.

“The government cannot sit over the matter as it is only an impartial and fair judicial inquiry that will find out the truth. After meeting the deceased’s parents I am convinced that it was not a case of suicide as his family said the police feared that he would name some of their officers during the interrogation,” he alleged, adding that it was for this reason that the boy was thrashed to death.

The former MLA urged Chief Minister PK Dhumal to order an inquiry into the incident so that those responsible for this death could be punished.

Meanwhile, the Boileauganj Beopar Mandal has also demanded a high-level probe into the death of Pawan.

“Though we did not know the youth but the manner in which his death is being labeled as a suicide raises doubt in our mind and what is surprising is that so far no efforts have been made by the government to get the matter probed,” said Rakesh Jain, president of the Beopar Mandal. 

Mandi, December 3
Chief Minister PK Dhumal today announced that high school for differently abled at Sundernagar would be upgraded to a senior secondary level and urged all people, including NGOs and officials, to pool their efforts to “make better the plight of over 66,932 differently abled in the state.”

Addressing a public gathering at the concluding day of the two-day sports meet of special children on the occasion of International Day of Persons with Disability here today, the Chief Minister said only sports meet was not enough for the betterment of the special children, they need care in all the 365 days of the year.

Taking a cue from the media report highlighting the apathy of organisers of the sports meet, the Chief Minister said there might be some children who could not participate in the event due to various reasons. But, he also congratulated departments and NGOs for successfully concluding the sports meet of 500 special children in only two days.

Dhumal said over 1,332 differently abled have been employed in a special recruitment drive in the state for the past four years.

“We are providing free travel, scholarship of Rs 750 per student and free education from elementary level to university for them. If they get equal opportunities, they are second to none,” he added.

He said the school for the special children at Sundernagar has been upgraded to senior secondary level at the Cabinet meeting yesterday.

Earlier, Social Justice Minister Sarveen Chaudhary gave an account of differently abled saying that there were over 66,932 disabled in the state as per the 2006 survey.

Over 58,000 have more than 40 per cent disability, she added.

Later, the Chief Minister gave trophies and prizes to winners. The Mandi team won the overall trophy in the event.

Meanwhile, the convener of the RTI Bureau, Mandi, submitted a memorandum to the Chief Minister highlighting the plight of the special children at the sports meet.

He urged the CM to make it mandatory that these children were trained and a calendar of events was followed by NGOs and departments involved in their welfare.

Dharamsala, December 3
The Tibetan Parliament-in-exile today held the alleged repressive policies of the Chinese Government responsible for the 12th self-immolation in Tibet on Thursday.

Tenzin Phuntsok (46), a former monk of the Karma monastery in Chamdo, set himself afire on Thursday in an apparent protest against China’s continued occupation of Tibet. Tibetan Parliament-in-exile in a statement issued here today said if the Chinese Government fails to end its repressive policies and oppression on Tibetans, the situation in Tibet was bound to become more critical.

They demanded that an probe team should immediately be allowed inside Tibet to assess the ground situation and urged for immediate steps to resolve the sufferings of Tibetans inside Tibet.

The Dharamsala-based Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy said Tenzin Phuntsok raised slogans and distributed leaflets before setting himself on fire.

The Regional Tibetan Youth Congress, Dharamsala, and the Tibetan Women’s Association jointly organised a candlelight vigil yesterday at McLeodganj in the honour of Tenzin Phuntsok. Hundreds of Tibetans and foreigners joined the march.

“We condemn the Chinese Government for their repressive policies and faulty security measures in Tibet,” said Monlam Tharchin, a member of the Tibetan Parliament-in-exile while speaking at the candlelight vigil.

“We are in constant touch with Kalon Tripa, Dr Lobsang Sangay and Speaker Penpa Tsering, who are at present in Europe, for taking up the situation in Tibet with governmental and non-governmental leaders,” said the Tibetan parliamentarian.

In a letter of condolence sent to the central Tibetan administration, the Jogye Order of Korean Buddhism expressed solidarity with Tibetans on the recent cases of self-immolations in Tibet.

This is the 12th known case of self-immolation in Tibet since March this year.