Shimla, March 17
Promoters of the Jakhu aerial ropeway have been asked to submit a fresh environmental plan and structural stability certification to enable the government to take a final decision on the project, which has been hanging fire due to the construction of two additional storeys without permission.

The Town and Country Planning (TCP) Department had asked the promoters, Jagson International Private Limited, at a meeting held here on March 7 to furnish all these documents so that a final view could be taken by the government.

It is learnt that the promoters have assured that within two weeks’ time they will complete all the required formalities, which can pave the way for the project to start operations.

After the completion of these formalities and the TCP Department ensuring its structural stability, it is the state Cabinet that will take the final decision in this regard. However, a decision on the use of the additional space created by the construction of two floors will, however, be taken by the Tourism Department.

“Even though we have yet to decide about the use of this additional space, the promoters will definitely be imposed a heavy penalty for violating the construction norms,” said officials.

It is the unauthorised construction of two storeys, which proved to be a stumbling block for the controversial project that has come up in a no-construction green area.

“We need to be sure about the structural stability as it was originally designed for 11 floors, but two additional floors were raised without seeking permission by way of a revised plan,” admitted officials. The TCP Department has made it clear that the certification must come from experts in the field so that there is no compromise with the safety aspect.

The project had come in for severe criticism right from the day it was conceived as it fell in the no-construction green belt, with a possible damage to the thick deodar forest on the Jakhu hills, considered to be the crown of the town.

Besides, the fact that it involved felling of trees, environmentalists had echoed deep concern on the grounds that increased human interference in the area could have long-term repercussion.

Solan, March 17
The Health and Ayurveda Minister Rajeev Bindal today dared Congress leaders to declare their property and asked why they were hankering after his property details when he had already declared these.

Addressing a huge gathering of people who had turned up to honour him at a specially organised “sammaan samaroh” at Murari Market here today, Dr Bindal said the Union Budget announced yesterday had unnerved the poor man and it had become difficult for him to make both ends meet. He said rather than addressing these crucial issues, Congress leaders were unnecessarily raking up the issue of corruption while overlooking his achievements.

Bindal gave a befitting reply to his detractors by putting up an impressive show of strength where as many as 93 organisations of Solan and Sirmaur districts conferred the Solan Gaurav on him.

In an apparent bid to silence his critics, including the Congress and Himachal Lokhit Party leaders, the Health Minister made it clear that people from various sections of the society still reposed faith in him and this was apparent by their large turnout.

Bindal said he was overwhelmed by their presence and thanked them for standing by him at a time when he was facing undue criticism and flak. He also released a booklet enlisting his developmental works.

Attacking the Congress for having raked up the issue of irregularities in various appointments when he was the Chairman of the local Municipal Committee, he said it was surprising that the Congress which had failed to grant prosecution sanction in that case for lack of evidence was now trying to take political mileage out of it. He said he had merely regularised daily wagers in the committee and if that was termed as corruption he would indulge in such corruption again.

Bindal in his nearly hour-long address enlisted various developmental works carried out by him, including those in health, water supply, education, agriculture, roads etc.

Dr Rajeev Sehzal, MLA, Kasauli, Sheela Kumari, Chairperson, Zila Parishad, Meera Anand, state president, were among those who spoke on the occasion.

Dharamsala, March 17
The Congress has decided to step up political activity in Kangra, politically the most significant district of the state having 15 Assembly constituencies.

On March 25 Union Minister for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Virbhadra Singh will address a political rally in Jawali. The Jawali Assembly constituency is represented by Virbhadra loyalist and Congress MLA Sujjan Singh Pathania.

Kewal Singh Pathania, a Congress leader from Kangra, said the rally was being organised to highlight the achievements of the UPA government. The Congress was united and all the Congress leaders would participate in the Jawali rally, he added.

However, sources here said the Jawali rally of the Congress was being planned by the Virbhadra Singh faction of the Congress that would try to display its strength in Kangra.

Earlier, a rally was held under the stewardship of GS Bali, Congress leader from Nagrota Bagwan, during the winter session of the Himachal Assembly at Dharamsala.

Swatantra Mahajan, spokesperson of the Congress, said the party cadres would hold protests in all parts of the district.

Dharamsala, March 17
With Tibetan monasteries in Tibet becoming “centres for resistance”, the Chinese government has decided to strengthen control over these.

Sources available here said the Chinese Government had decided to post government party officials in almost every Tibetan monastery in Tibet.

The new policy of the Chinese Government has been named as “Complete long-term management mechanism for Tibetan Buddhist monasteries”.

The sources said the new policy was aimed at ensuring that monks and nuns did not take part in subversive activities. Monks and nuns had been the epicentre of all protests that had been taken place in China in the past few years. Most of the 28 Tibetans who had committed self-immolations in Tibet in the past two years, were monks and nuns.

China’s policy for Tibetan monasteries was first introduced in 1962. According to the policy adopted at that time, monasteries were supposed to be run by monks and nuns. Government officials could only exercise indirect control over these.

The policy was, however, abandoned and between 1966 and 1979 many monasteries were destroyed. In the 1980s, again China adopted the policy of self-rule in monasteries.

Self-governed Tibetan monasteries allegedly kept close contacts with the Dalai Lama and his establishment in exile.

Even protests just before the Beijing Olympics in 2008 were led by monks.

Under the new policy, an unelected management committee was proposed to be established in each monastery with up to 30 officials depending on the size of the institution.

Direct control over Tibetan monasteries by China would pose a threat to Tibetan religious institutions that had remained a centre of Tibetan resistance against the Chinese rule in the past 53 years.

Meanwhile, the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA) has called for the immediate withdrawal of security forces from Ngaba, the region that has witnessed the largest number of self-immolations by Tibetans.

In a statement here, the spokesperson for the CTA said they were seriously concerned about the latest developments in Tibet involving the self-immolation of a young Tibetan monk in Ngaba in the northeastern Tibet. The region had been under undeclared martial law for the past many months.

He further said reports from Tibet stated that Losang Tsultrim (20), a monk of Kirti monastery, took to the main street of Ngaba town and set himself afire yesterday.

Eyewitnesses said the police knocked him down and doused the flames. He was then taken away to an unknown location.

Following the incident, China has been preparing for heavy crackdown by deploying armed police and paramilitary forces across Ngaba, particularly in and around the Kirti monastery.

The CTA had urged the Chinese authorities to allow injured Tibetans to get proper medical treatment. To date there were five Tibetans, whose condition and whereabouts remained unknown, the spokesperson added.

Solan, March 17
With the apex court making the Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) clearance mandatory for mining of minor minerals in an area of less than 5 hectares, the state geologist has issued directions to all mining officers to renew the mining lease only after this clearance has been sought from the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF).

The apex court directions follow an SLP titled “Deepak Kumar versus State of Haryana and others” in which the court has ruled that the lease of minor minerals, including their renewal for an area less than 5 hectares, be granted by the state/union territory only after getting EIA clearance from the MoEF.

Earlier the MoEF had as per its notification dated September 2006 made it mandatory to seek EIA clearance in cases where the lease area involved was over 5 hectares. But cases of violations had come to the fore where it had become difficult to confine mining within 5 hectares in several states.

The State Pollution Control Board, which grants consent for such cases, has also been directed by the state geologist about these directions so that no such permissions bypassing new directions were given.

State geologist Arun Sharma said a State Expert Appraisal Committee had been constituted for the technical assessment of such projects and a state EIA authority overlooked the final clearance.

He said all fresh and renewal cases would be required to get EIA clearance and directions had been issued to the field staff.

The Mining Department had, however, been granting yearly short-term permits where lessees were directed to lift the material stocked at sites and not indulge in fresh mining. The arrangement was made as a stop-gap arrangement and lessees were directed to obtain EIA clearances where the area involved was over five hectares.

The new directions of the apex court had, however, removed the bar on the area and lessees would now be required to obtain EIA clearance.

Since the EIA was a time-consuming mechanism, lessees had been shying away from adopting its procedures. Moreover, consultants, who prepared the EIA reports, had little experience of dealing with such cases and it would now require a thorough study of the environmental impacts of mining and its repercussions on communities.

These directions would also bring the monopoly of panchayat pradhans to an end as cases had come to light where they in connivance with lessees had been granting them NOCs without seeking consent of panchayats.

Chamba, March 17
The huge landslide, which blocked the flow of the Budhil river water for about an hour on Thursday, has posed a serious threat to the existence of a remote, Changui village, falling in Rahani panchayat in the remote terrains of the tribal Bharmour sub-division in Chamba district, according to reports reaching the district headquarters.

Panic prevailed among residents of the village situated on the fringe of the river in the precincts of the Budhil hydroelectric project in the aftermath of triggering of landslides alongside the hill slopes of the Budhil beneath the village, the reports said.

The reports said villagers had apprised the Bharmour administration about the danger looming over the village due to landslides and demanded a high-level probe into the matter.

Meanwhile, nearly 40 houses in Rajjour village of Pranghala panchayat in the Bharmour tribal region have been facing constant hazard of soil erosion downhill the village, the reports said. adding that many houses could face imminent danger of developing cracks in the wake of the present situation.

Bilaspur, March 17
Chief Minister PK Dhumal and Central Power Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde will arrive here next month to inaugurate the first hydro-engineering college of the country. The college will train special engineers and experts for construction of river water power projects in the country.

This was stated by BJP national general secretary and local MLA and former Health Minister JP Nadda after inaugurating a seven-day state-level Nalwadi fair at the Luhnu ground here today amidst a large gathering of officials, BJP leaders and activists.

Earlier, Nadda arrived here while heading a shobha yatra from Lakshmi Narayan temple in the heart of the town with turbaned officers and BJP leaders and local trumpeters and drummers leading it.

Nadda pitched a wooden peg in the ground with a huge wooden hammer and tied a pair of bullocks with it and worshipped these after garlanding and feeding them in a traditional way.

Nadda, who has been nominated by the BJP high command for the Rajya Sabha election from the state, thanked the party and his supporters for the same.

Deputy Commissioner Ritesh Chauhan, who is also the chairman of the Nalwadi Mela Management Committee, and Naina Devi MLA and BJP state spokesman Randhir Sharma among those who spoke on the occasion. However, another MLA from the district, HP Vidhan Sabha Deputy Speaker Rikhi Ram Kaundal, remained absent from the function.

Shimla, March 17
The state high court has sought an explanation from Himachal Pradesh University that why the centre of undergraduate exams was shifted from Deen Dayal Upadhyay College, Mehre, Hamirpur, to Government College, Brasar.

It passed this order on a petition filed by the Him Shiksha Samiti challenging the action of the university to shift the centre of undergraduate exams from their college, Deen Dayal Upadhyay College, to the college at Brasar.

It was further alleged that the centre had been shifted as early as in January 2012. Meanwhile, some of the students had been wrongly intimated that the examination centre would be the college at Mehre.

However, during the course of the hearing, it was informed to the court by the university that it is only on account of a clerical mistake. In order to avoid any inconvenience to students, it is submitted that the university will provide vehicles to all those students, who present themselves for the examination there and they will be taken to the college at Brasar in vehicles provided by the university. It further directed the university to explain its position by filing affidavit in this regard.

Shimla, March 17
As many as 24 students were injured during a clash between activists of the Students Federation (SFI) of India and the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) on the Himachal Pradesh University (HPU) campus today.

This year, violence has started even before the commencement of the new academic session. Though the police was present on the campus, with students outnumbering them it could not do much to avert the clash.

Later, the police also resorted to a mild cane charge to disperse the clashing students.

Trouble broke at 1.30 pm when activists of the SFI and the ABVP had a heated argument outside the Law Department.

Though a clash was averted at that stage, later activists of both student outfits attacked each other with hockey sticks and iron rods. Students also resorted to stone pelting near the café, in which some police personnel were also injured.

Jagat Ram, SP, said two students, Dinesh Kumar (MBA) and Madan Mohan (Law), had sustained injuries.

He added that the police has registered cases against students of both outfits.

Hamirpur, March 17
The management of the State Bank of India (SBI) has put a previous manager of the Hamirpur branch of the SBI under suspension for alleged financial irregularities of over Rs 1 crore. The manager, who was recently transferred from the Hamirpur branch to Mandi, has not been able to join duties there, and was suspended in the meantime.

The SBI management had detected the irregularities through its own mechanism and the case handed over to the vigilance section of the SBI.

The local SBI authorities have confirmed that a vigilance team of the bank had already visited the Hamirpur branch and started investigation in the case. The vigilance team is also going through the records of those branches, where this officer had been posted during the past years.

The SBI authorities are maintaining silence over the issue, but speculations are rife here that the “irregularities detected by the SBI management are related to the opening of fictitious accounts to draw undue benefits given by the bank under different schemes meant for various sections of society”. The allegations are also pertaining to reported misuse of power by the then branch manager in regard to a few bank schemes.

The Additional General Manager, SBI, in circle, head office, Chandigarh, has confirmed the suspension of former branch manager of Hamirpur, but refused to comment further in the matter.