Shimla, March 15
The stalemate in the state Assembly continued for the fourth day today as the Congress refused to participate in the proceedings, demanding the resignation of Health Minister Rajeev Bindal and a debate on the issue of corruption.

The minute the session started today, Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader Vidya Stokes urged the Speaker to allow a debate on the adjournment notice given by her party members on the issue of corruption. She made it clear that the Congress, too, was not happy to boycott the proceedings but with the government not allowing a debate or ordering any inquiry and the Chief Minister rejecting Bindal’s resignation outright, her party had been forced to continue with its protest.

Speaker Tulsi Ram, while urging Congress legislators to participate in the business, said he had already rejected their demand for a debate and as such the issue would not be taken up. He said they could speak on the issue while participating in the debate on the motion of thanks to the Governor’s Address and later during the course of debates in the House.

“I have always cooperated with you and will continue to do so, but you should also try to resolve the stalemate. The Chief Minister as well as the Parliamentary Affairs Minister are keen that the House functions normally,” he said. He added that he never acted under pressure from anybody and always gave Congress members enough time and opportunity to speak.

Not satisfied with the Speaker’s decision, Congress members, with black bands tied around their mouth, trooped into the well of the House and sat on the floor. Unhappy with the action of the Congress members, he said in the past, too, they had not upheld the dignity and the high traditions of the House, and they would be responsible for any future consequences. The Speaker later started question hour, which was completed with the Congress members not taking part in it.

Efforts are being made by the ruling party to resolve the deadlock as Stokes and state Congress chief Kaul Singh Thakur were invited by the Chief Minister to hold talks. They met the Chief Minister. Some ministers, too, met Stokes. “We did meet the Chief Minister but we did not make any commitment as it is only after consulting the CLP that we will decided about our future course of action,” she said.

Chief Minister PK Dhumal will present the Budget for 2012-13 on March 19. The government is keen that the Congress members start participating in the Assembly proceedings.

Dharamsala, March 15
Kangra District Magistrate (DM) RS Gupta has ordered the vestment of the Trilokpur-based nunnery of the 17th Karmapa, Ogyen Trinley Dorjee, in the name of the government. He has held that the property, bought in the name of Sewa Devi Negi, a resident of the Pooh area in Kinnaur district, is benami. The institution of the Karmapa used the Himachali agriculturist status of Sewa Devi to purchase land for the nunnery, the District Magistrate has held.

The nunnery was set up on over 100 kanals in the Trilokpur area of Kangra district on the Kangra-Pathankot road. The property is at present worth several crores.

The land for the nunnery was bought in the name of Sewa Devi at a cost of Rs 45 lakh. Sewa Devi has maintained in the court of the District Magistrate that she was given an interest-free loan of Rs 45 lakh by the Karmapa Trust for purchasing the land to establish the nunnery.

She is also a member of the Karmapa Trust that established the nunnery. Sewa Devi has also maintained that she had returned a part of the money given as loan to her by the Karmapa Trust for purchasing the land in dispute.

However, after going through the records of the case, the District Magistrate has held that the Karmapa Trust used the Himachali agriculturist status of Sewa Devi to buy land for setting up the Trilokpur nunnery. Since the land transaction was benami, it violated Section 118 of the Himachal Land Tenancy Act and so the entire property, along with the structures present on it, should be vested in the name of the state government, he has held.

The nunnery was already under the scanner of various investigating agencies, including the Enforcement Directorate (ED).

Besides this nunnery, many Tibetan monasteries located in Kangra district have been raised on alleged benami properties. The Himachal Government had allotted land in McLeodganj to the Dalai Lama for setting up their establishments.

During the stint of the previous Congress government, the Tibetan government-in-exile had requested the state government to regularise some of their benami properties. They had submitted a list of 79 properties for regularisation to the government.

However, the present government has not made any move to regularise the benami properties on which various monasteries have come up.

Cases against such properties are going on in various revenue courts.

Shimla, March 15
Hundreds of farmers participated in a march organised by the Himachal Kisan Sabha in support of their demands from the Panchayat Bhawan to the Vidhan Sabha here today.

Addressing the gathering, convener of the sabha Kuldeep Tanwar said the government had failed to take any action on its 20-point demand charter submitted to the Chief Minister in August last. The issues in it remained unresolved and only minor demands like the installation of an electronic weighing machine at the Dhall market and increasing labour handling charges had been accepted.

The main issues like damage being caused to crops by wild animals, cold store facility, support price for vegetables and bringing these under the Horticulture Department and restoration of TD rights had not been addressed. The other demands included opening of a college, introduction of science and commerce in schools and special trades for girls in ITIs in the Junga area. Kusumpati was the only constituency in the state which did not have a government college.

Shimla, March 15
Mayor of the Shimla Municipal Corporation (MC) Madhu Sood has taken exception to the manner in which development projects executed by the corporation were being got inaugurated by local MLA Suresh Bharadwaj ignoring the elected body.

Talking to mediapersons here today, she said there seemed to be a conspiracy by the ruling BJP to undermine the authority and stature of the Mayor and the Deputy Mayor of the Congress-ruled civic body.

The local area development funds of MPs and MLAs were being given directly to youth clubs and other such bodies bypassing the corporation. There was no proper supervision of such works and also no transparency, she said and demanded an inquiry into such spending of funds.

She asserted that funds should be transferred to the corporation by the Deputy Commissioner to ensure proper utilisation.

While maintaining that the BJP was making a constant effort to undermine the authority of the elected body, she referred to the proposed inauguration of the parking lot constructed in lower Phagli for which funds were given by the corporation and also the MLA. The invitation card for the function to be held on March 18 deliberately omitted the name of the Mayor and the Deputy Mayor, which was shocking, while the name of BJP councillors appeared twice in it.

The BJP had been taking credit for granting 50 per cent reservations to women in local bodies and panchayati raj institutions, but handing out a raw deal to elected women representatives on political considerations.

The Mayor added that since elections were approaching fast, the local MLA was on a inauguration spree, and earlier this week he inaugurated a park at Jakhu for which Rs 5.41 lakh was provided by the corporation and Rs 3 lakh by the MLA and elected representatives of the corporation were not given due credit.— TNS

Shimla, March 15
The Vidhan Sabha has been witnessing turmoil due to a protest by the opposition Congress which is demanding the removal of Health Minister Rajeev Bindal over charges of corruption. The minister has, however, denied the allegations and termed the entire episode as a political conspiracy. The gist of the charges and the explanation provided by Bindal is listed here:

Discrepancy in details of assets: In the 2012 assets details, he had 10 landed properties, while in 2007 he had 18 properties.

Shimla, March 15
Even as the opposition Congress remained adamant on its demand for the resignation of Rajeev Bindal, Chief Minister PK Dhumal today came out in full defence of his close aide and Cabinet colleague, rejecting all accusations levelled against him.

In fact, the Chief Minister’s reply to the debate on the motion of thanks on the Governor’s Address in the House today was primarily devoted to defending Bindal as he made only a cursory mention of 13 speakers, all of them from the BJP, who had participated in the debate. He, however, said it would have been better if the Congress had participated in the debate as in a democracy the suggestions and criticism from the Opposition can be very constructive.

Equipped with all relevant documents, including the report of an inquiry conducted during the Congress regime in 2007 regarding a compliant received about the purchase of huge chunks of land by Bindal and his family in Solan and Sirmuar districts, he said the Health Minister had been given a clean chit.

“The inquiry officer clearly stated that the allegations of acquiring land with the help of fake certificates and affidavit against Bindal had been found to be false as he had inherited agricultural land bought by his father way back in 1964, even before the Tenancy and Land Reforms Act was enacted in 1972,” he said.

Dhumal said the report of the inquiry was submitted on December 12, 2007, clearly stating that the land purchased by Bindal was legal and non-violative of Section 118 of the Tenancy and Land Reforms Act. He added that the allegations which were being levelled today had already been probed and Bindal found innocent.

He also placed in the House several cases of land purchase from BPL families during the Congress regime, leaving them landless. “Today the Congress is making a hue and cry and raising slogans in the House about people being made landless, but it has forgotten that during its rule there were several such cases,” he said.

Turning the tables on the Congress, he said there was no substance in its allegation of Himachal being put on sale by the BJP as during its tenure, the Congress granted permission in 2,398 cases involving 1,445 hectares of land while the BJP had so far granted permission in 1,250 cases only. “The report of the commission probing violations of Section 118 is likely to come in by March 31 this year and people will know who actually put the state on sale,” he said.

He said the Congress was critical of the land given to Swami Ramdev, but he had bought it on the market rate and that too so that the farmers got good prices for the medicinal plants and herbs being grown by them. He said rather than levelling baseless allegations, the Congress should approach the Lokayukta and the commission looking into violations in land purchases.

He reiterated that the BJP regime was committed to zero tolerance towards corruption and the Assembly had passed important Bills, pertaining to confiscation of property made through unfair means and to ensure the delivery of public services in a time-bound manner.

Hamirpur, March 15
The overall ranking of the National Institute of Technology (NIT), Hamirpur, has improved by eight points in the survey conducted a few months ago.

NIT Hamirpur, which was ranked 23rd out of the top 50 engineering colleges of the country in the last survey conduced by inspireignite.com, has now risen to the 14th place.

The ranking of NIT, Hamirpur, had declined drastically from the eighth position in 2009 to the 23rd in 2010.

For providing ranking to various NITs in the country inspireignite.com in its survey has used parameters like AIEEE opening and closing ranks, student quality, infrastructure development, placement, quality of faculty and alumni network for providing the rank.

Two factors that have contributed most towards improving the ranking of the Hamirpur NIT in the last survey has been infrastructure development and placement.

While a large-scale infrastructure had been created on the NIT campus here during the past few years, the placement of NIT passouts has also been good. The overall placement of NIT students had been over 95 per cent and passouts from a few faculties had been getting 100 per cent placements in private and government sectors.

Even in the survey conducted by the World Bank a few years ago, the Hamirpur NIT had secured above nine scoring out of 10 and the survey report had given the 9th rank to this institute.

Solan, March 15
The delay in receipt of roll numbers from the Postal Department has denied candidates an opportunity to appear for the allied examinations held on March 11.

Navdeep Kumar, a local resident, who had applied for the allied services, is disheartened with the delayed postal services and narrating his tale of woes here today, he said: “I was surprised to receive my roll number on March 13, two days after the written examinations.”

He added that since no information about the conduct of these examinations was available through newspapers, he could not approach the board for getting the roll number on his own in time and this had denied him an opportunity to appear, though he had been preparing for the same for months now.

He said despite residing in Solan, which was among the nearest stations from Shimla and a well-connected urban area, his roll number had been received two days after the examinations.

This spoke volumes about the management of examinations by the board and the poor postal services.

Navdeep was not the lone candidate to have faced this plight as several others too complained of having received roll numbers after the examinations in Solan.

Candidates have demanded a probe into this delay and cancellation of the examinations as several deserving candidates have been denied an opportunity.

They lamented that roll numbers should be dispatched at least a week prior to the exams and since every candidate cannot have access to Internet information about the conduct of examinations should be publicised through newspapers.

Solan, March 15
The CPI has expressed shock at the suicide committed by farmer Mohar Singh of Barara village in Hamirpur district due to harassment faced by him after he failed to repay the loan.

In a press note here today, the party said bank loans, failure of crops, non-availability of proper marketing and loot by middlemen were the factors which had made life of the farmers miserable.

Shashi Pandit expressed surprise at the attitude adopted by the ruling party over this issue and said it was surprising that on the one hand an MLA’s injury was being made an issue throughout the state, but a farmer’s suicide was being ignored not only by the ruling party, but also the Opposition.

The CPI has demanded a just and proper compensation to the dependents of the deceased who was compelled to commit suicide on account of harassment and pressure on account of a loan taken from Kangra Cooperative Bank and Cooperative Society.

The CPI has demanded that malpractices adopted by various financial institutions, specially getting blank signed cheques, must be put to an end immediately as the financial institutions were not hesitating to use these to file criminal cases against the farmers. The party further demanded that humanitarian attitude must be adopted for the recovery of loans and no pressure put on the poor farmers to recover the loan immediately.

Pandit demanded that proper marketing facility must be provided to the farmers in the state. Also they should be allowed to protect their crops and, if required, shoot wild animals that damaged their crops. He demanded suitable compensation for the damaged crops from the government.

Shimla, March 15
Taking a serious note of issuing alleged incorrect medical certificates just to extend favour, the state high court has issued notice to the then Block Medical Officer (BMO), Jari, Kullu district to explain under what circumstances a medical certificate was issued to the petitioner.

While issuing notice, Justice Rajiv Sharma has directed the state government to furnish the particulars of the then block medical officer, who was posted there in 1993.

The court has directed the medical officer to explain under what circumstances a medical certificate was issued by him to the petitioner Nanak Chand of Mandi district. It has further observed that in case the certificate is found to be false, a criminal case will be registered against the petitioner as well as the then BMO, Jari, Kullu district.

The petitioner was working as a beldar and had produced a medical certificate for the period from July 21, 1993, to December 31, 1993, to take service benefits.

As per the medical certificate, the petitioner was declared fit to resume duties from January 1, 1994. The case will come for further hearing on April 4.

Hamirpur, March 15
Himachal Pradesh Congress Committee (HPCC) member Narender Thakur has accused Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal of sheltering corrupt people in the state government.

Commenting on the rejection of Health Minister Rajeev Bindal’s resignation by the Chief Minister, Narender Thakur said: “The rejection of Bindal’s resignation by the CM, despite being supported by documents by Congress and HLP leaders against him, is evidence enough that by giving a clean chit to Bindal, the CM is sheltering corruption in the government.”

He said: “Corruption is rampant under the present regime and people highlighting the issue like Kangra BJP MP Rajan Sushant are being suspended from the party by the BJP leadership to throttle their voice.”

The Congress leader has also alleged that “the state government had given hundreds of acres of prime agricultural land to outsiders in violation of Section 118 of the Land Tenancy Act.”

He also criticised the Hamirpur district administration for not taking action against an influential BJP leader for allegedly submitting a frivolous resolution passed by the Tapre panchayat regarding the use of a piece of land.

Shimla, March 15
The flagship hotel of the state Tourism Development Corporation, The Chail Palace, has been accorded the status of a heritage hotel by the Centre.

A communication in this regard has been received by the Principal Secretary, Tourism, from the Union Ministry of Tourism. The heritage status has been granted on the basis of the report of the three-member committee constituted by the ministry, which inspected the premium property and ascertained whether it fulfilled the requirements needed to qualify for heritage status or not.

Besides The Chail Palace, the corporation had also taken an initiative to secure the heritage status for The Castle Naggar in Kullu and sent detailed proposals to the Centre for the same.

The committee inspected both properties in January 2011. The corporation fulfilled some of the requirements like provision of ramps for the differently abled subsequently.

Managing Director of the corporation Lokender Chauhan said the formalities had been completed and the Castle Naggar was expected to get the heritage status soon.

The corporation had also initiated the process for securing the coveted status for The Kashmir House in Dharamsala.

The Chail Palace, a tiny resort in the Shivalik ranges, was initially a part of the Keonthal State and came under the sway of the Gorkha warrior, Amar Singh, thereafter and finally became a property of the Maharaja of Patiala. Build in 1891, the palace was purchased by the state tourism corporation in 1972 and converted into a hotel.

Shimla, March 15
The power tariff order for 2012-13 will include all bulk consumers with a demand of 1 MW and above who have been excluded from the jurisdiction of electricity regulators by the Centre and notified as deemed “open access” consumers.

The decision has come rather late and the tariff petition of the state electricity board, which includes such power-intensive consumers, is already before the Himachal Pradesh Electricity Regulatory Commission (HPERC). According to the notification of the Union Ministry of Power, consumers with a demand exceeding 1 MW will be required to draw supplies from sources other than their local distribution company and if this is not possible, the rate for the supply will have to be negotiated with the existing distribution company. As such the regulator will not be required to determine the tariff for retail supply in respect of such consumers.

The HPERC has issued notices to the power board and the consumers to ascertain their views on introducing the open access system. However, both the board and the consumers have expressed their inability to switch over to the new system due to shortage of time. The consumers maintain that they need at least six months for sourcing of power and enter agreements to procure power at reasonable rates. The board has also pleaded for more time to put in place the interconnection points needed for facilitating open access.

Chairman of the commission Subhash Negi said this year’s tariff order would lay down the road map for the implementation of the open access system for the power-intensive consumers so that everything was in place by 2013-14. Moreover, the commission would have to prematurely close down the current control period (2012-14) for multi-year tariff and introduce new control period (2013-15).

The exclusion of the power-intensive consumers will effectively mean that the board will to be required to procure costly power to meet the increasing shortage. At present such bulk consumers account for almost 50 per cent of the total demand of 8,200 million units supplied by the board.