Dharamsala, March 10
Young and elected Tibetan Prime Minister-in-exile Lobsang Sangay, who has inherited political power from the Dalai Lama, did not mince words while setting out his agenda during a speech delivered to Tibetans on the 53rd Uprising Day at McLeodganj today.

Instead of the generally diplomatic language used by the Dalai Lama in his political speech, Sangay was more direct in his attack against China. He called upon Tibetans to make 2012 a “Tibet lobby year”.

Sangay urged the Tibetans to reach out to elected representatives at the state and national levels in their respective countries and educate them about Tibet.

Sangay also stressed on educating Tibetans that had been his agenda since he got elected as the Tibetan Prime Minister-in-exile. China was contemplating that a generational change in leadership might weaken the Tibetan freedom movement.

However, resiliency of the Tibetan spirit combined with a coming generation of educated Tibetans would provide dynamic leadership and sustain the movement till freedom was restored in Tibet. Education should be given top priority so that educated and community-minded Tibetans would be produced who could sustain the Tibetan movement, he said.

Sangay reiterated commitment towards the middle-way approach advocated by the Dalai Lama in which he had sought meaningful autonomy under the Chinese sovereignty.

He said Hong Kong and Macao had been granted high degree of autonomy by the Chinese government. Despite resistance from Taiwan, China had offered the country a high degree of autonomy. However, Tibetans were not being granted even the genuine autonomy as stipulated in the Chinese constitution.

He said the Central Tibetan Administration (changed name of the Tibetan government-in-exile) represented and spoke for six million Tibetans.

If the Chinese government claimed that Tibetans enjoyed freedom and equality, it should allow democratic, transparent and fair elections in Tibet.

In the 53 years of Chinese occupation, no Tibetan had ever held the party secretary post in the Tibetan Autonomous Region.

Forty per cent of the Tibetan high school and college graduates were unemployed, he said.

Speaker of Tibetan parliament-in-exile Penpa Tsering also read a political message.

Shimla, March 10
The decision of the government to provide the entire revenue collected by way of additional licence fee on liquor levied at the rate of Rs 2 per bottle (750 ml) to urban local bodies will provide some relief to the fund-starved civic bodies in the state.

So far municipal bodies and also panchayats were being paid half the amount, Re 1 per bottle, and it was being released belatedly.

While panchayats were flush with funds, thanks to the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme and other Central schemes, the urban bodies were in poor financial health and lacked funds to even maintain basic services.

The arrears on account of additional licence fee amounting to over Rs 2 crore for 2009-10 were released recently by the government.

The total revenue collected in 2010-11 was about Rs 8 crore and the figure was likely to cross the Rs 9-crore mark during the current year. In 2012-13, the total revenue on this account will cross Rs 10.5 crore.

The Shimla Municipal Corporation (MC) had recently passed a resolution seeking approval for imposing additional licence fee at the rate of Rs 10 per bottle. However, the government has taken a policy decision to give the entire amount to the respective urban local bodies. The sale of liquor has been increasing and expected to go up sharply in the state during 2012-13 in view of the Assembly polls as such urban bodies will get a substantial amount.

The proposal of the Shimla MC seeking the imposition of additional licence fee at the rate of Rs 10 per bottle is irrational as the rates of liquor have to be comparable with the neighbouring states.

An increase of Rs 8 per bottle is quite significant. Further, the additional fee will be levied only in the municipal area and with such a large difference people will prefer to procure their requirement from peripheral rural areas and as such the corporation will end up a loser. The doubling of the revenue available through additional licence fee on liquor will be of some help to the Shimla Municipal Corporation, but its revenue gap of Rs 139.24 crore is too large.

Hamirpur, March 10
The Himachal Pradesh Pensioner’s Kalyan Sangh (HPPKS), which has been demanding pension benefits for lakhs of pensioners of the state on the Punjab pattern since long, has once again decided to steep up their campaign to achieve their demands.

The HPPKS has decided to chalk out their future strategy at a state-level meeting to be held at Hamirpur on March 26.

They have been demanding pension benefits on the Punjab pattern, but are being paid pension as per the pattern of Central Government employees.

State president, HPPKS, BD Sharma said: “The BJP had promised to give us financial benefits at par with the benefits given to their employees by the Punjab Government.”

In a letter written to Chief Minister PK Dhumal, pensioners have urged him to fulfil their demands since the state government was about to complete its present term.

State organising secretary, HPPKS, NC Saini said: “We have been demanding pension benefits on the Punjab pattern in totality as the state government has already been adopting the Punjab pay pattern in the state.”

The pensioners have been demanding additional pensions on the pattern of Punjab i.e. 5 per cent increase in pension after 65 years and 10 per cent additional pension after attaining 70 years of age and Rs 500 medical allowance per month, besides travel allowance.

They also urged the government to pay gratuity and leave encashment benefits to pensioners retiring after January 1, 2006, besides contributing liberal funds towards pension funds of employees of the Himachal Road Transport and Electricity Board.

BILASPUR: The Bilaspur Sadar unit of the HP State Pensioners’ Welfare Association here has unanimously decided to follow every direction of their association regarding its “programme of action”. This was decided at a meeting of the unit presided over by its president Daulat Ram Sharma here on Saturday.

The meeting decided that all pensioners of the district would gather at Bilaspur town on April 9 and hold a mass rally in favour of their long-pending demands if the government still fail to implement the same by March 31.

Senior vice-president of the association JK Nadda, district vice-president GL Sharma, senior vice-president Ravinder Bhatta, treasurer Mahender Bakshi, SR Kaushal, Ram Lal Pundir, Nand Lal Rahi, BR Kaundal and Kirpa Ram were among those prominent leaders who addressed the meeting.

Bilaspur, March 10
The police has arrested two youths from Punjab, namely Sevak Singh of Taran Taran and Angrez Singh from Amritsar, on several charges, including creating a scene, rowdism and manhandling policemen on duty at Kainchi ka Mode police check-post under Suharghat police station on National Highway No.21 (Chandigarh-Manali), 60 km from here, yesterday.

Reports said the situation flared up when the police at the check-post tried to challan some youths for violating traffic rules and the youths protested again these challans.

A large number of youths who were returning from Mani Karan in Kullu district also gathered there and joined them alleging police excesses for challaning them on flimsy grounds.

They said they were challaned for being without helmets while travelling on their bikes to Mani Karan yesterday, but they were again hauled up for the same offence while returning home the next day.

Chamba, March 10
The recent unprecedented downpour and heavy snowfall has given rise to soil erosion and landslips in the unstable fragile hill slopes in remote parts of the district, thereby causing fissures in houses and cultivable land.

The reports reaching the district headquarters revealed that some houses, including a government primary school in the Thalli area of the district, had developed cracks which had posed a threat to other houses of the area.

Residents of the area had apprised the administration to take preventive measures to combat the situation and allocate funds for the restoration work of the school building and retaining walls, besides providing relief to the affected families, the reports added.

Another report said about three rooms of a government primary school building at Kanchela in Churah subdivision of the district had also been damaged by the recent heavy rains and snowfall. As a consequence, students had to sit outside in the open to attend their classes, the report further said.