Shimla, June 18
Doling out more benefits to various categories of employees with an eye on the elections, the government today enhanced the honorarium of computer operators, engaged under MNREGA in the Rural Development Department, from Rs 8,000 to Rs 13,500 per month and the fixed medical allowance to its employees and pensioners from Rs 100 to Rs 250 per month with immediate effect.

The state Cabinet, which met under the chairmanship of Chief Minister PK Dhumal here today, also decided to increase the fixed travelling allowance in respect of male/female health supervisors from Rs 350 to Rs 410 per month and financial assistance to ex-servicemen and their widows from Rs 330 to Rs 400 and for Second World War soldiers and their widows from Rs 500 to Rs 750 from April 1, 2012, besides increasing the eligibility income limit from Rs 11,000 to Rs 15,000 per annum. It decided to make panchayats accountable towards people.

Best performing panchayats will be adjudged at the state, district, sub-division and block levels and rewarded a cash reward of Rs 20 lakh at the state level, Rs 10 lakh at district, Rs 5 lakh at sub-division and Rs 2 lakh at the block level on the state-level Independence Day function on August 15 every year.

Evaluation of selected panchayats will take place between March 25 to April 15 every year.

It was decided to enhance fixed medical allowance of state government employees/pensioners from Rs 100 to Rs 250 per month with effect from April 1, 2012, to benefit over 80,000 persons and the decision entails an expenditure of Rs 14.40 crore to the state exchequer.

The Cabinet also decided to launch “Atal Adarsh Gram Puruskar Yojna” to encourage community participation in implementation of developmental activities and making panchayats accountable towards people.

It adopted a policy for disposal of cases for employment on compassionate grounds on the basis of maximum income ceiling. The annual income of the family of the deceased government employee from all sources, including pension, in case the employment was to be given to the widow, will not exceed Rs 1 lakh with per capita income of Rs 25,000. In case of son and daughter, the maximum income ceiling from all sources of the family will be Rs 50,000 per family with individual limit of Rs 12,500 per person.

However, any family having a BPL certificate will be deemed to be living in indigent condition.

It was decided to create and fill 31 posts of different categories in Sister Nivedita Government BSc Nursing College, Shimla, and to regularise the services of daily wage workers in WOOLFED.

It gave nod for the construction of a parking-cum-commercial complex at Vikas Nagar (Shimla) and at Mandi on a public private partnership (PPP) mode.

It decided to provide land on lease to the HPMC for development of a vegetable pack house at Nadaun and granted relaxation in construction period for small hydroelectric projects in accordance with technical evaluation certificate.

It was decided to shift tubewell sub-division from Una along with posts to Jhalera on the demand of people and decided to issue essentiality certificate in favour of the Kalgidhar Trust, Baru Sahib, for opening the Akal Institute of Medical Education and Research in which 50 per cent seats will be filled through the HPPMT.

Chauntra (Mandi), June 18
The police raided the office of the Tibetan Khampa Industrial Society (TKIS) here today and discovered that its “house allotment register” has entered the name of Tschatin, the caretaker, in place of Rinpoche Gangkar to give police a slip” in connection with the multi-crore benami house from where eight Taiwanese were arrested on June 12-13.

The investigation into the “land allotment racket” of benami owners from Sikkim, Nepal or Tibet” in the TKIS” has yet to find out whether “foreigners or Tibetan refugees” can set up a cooperative under the HP State Cooperative Society Act or not. Are they entitled for buying land directly from land owners or not?

The racket is getting murkier and deeper as the Revenue Department has “no record of the sale deed registry as to when and where it was executed between the then King of Mandi state and the TKIS”.

The mutation was entered in the jamavandi in 1991. The total land measures about 866 bighas in possession of the TKIS.

The “sale deed” has raised a major row as the TKIS did not show any revenue records to the local revenue team led by the tehsildar, Jogindernagar, today.

“We have no revenue record of the sale deed registry as the Jogindernagar sub-division was created in 1971”, said GS Thakur, tehsildar, Jogindernagar.

The probe into the issuing of three electricity meters and certificates issued to the benami house caretaker of Rinpoche Gangkar revealed that the certificates were issued by patwaris, without maintaining any records.

The Rinpoche-Taiwanese episode is, in fact, part of the benami land racket allegedly going on in the TKIS land here.

This is understandable that “there are over 103 Tibetan families” living on the TKIS land here”.

The local Revenue Department and the settlement officer, Deigi division, feigned ignorance as to “who is owning, which land and who is constructing big houses and flats on the TKIS land”.

The probe revealed that successive patvaris and kanungos posted here over the years allegedly have been issuing “fake certificates to Tibetans” for giving them electricity connections and others government facilities.

“We don’t have revenue records of the certificates issued by patwaris to Tibetans here,” the tehsildar admitted, adding that action will be taken in the case.

The police claimed that the TKIS house allotment register has changed the name of the owner of the benami house and has entered the name of Tschatin arrested under the Income Tax Act, the Excise Act, the Essential Commodities Act, along with the eight Taiwanese, who are in judicial remand till June 19.

The settlement officer, Deigi division, Tenzin, did not reveal as to who owns the benami house located in the colony saying that they “will go by police investigation”.

SP, Mandi, Abhishek Dular said they were investigating all available records and nothing certain could be said as of now.

Una, June 18
Water pollution samples of Nestle, one of the biggest food-processing industrial projects to come up in the state, have failed. A Rs 500-crore Nestle unit has come up recently in the Tahliwal industrial area of Una district.

Sources said the water samples taken from the industrial discharge of the Tahliwal-based unit of Nestle failed continuously for three months - from March to May.

Following this, the Himachal Pradesh Pollution Control Board ordered disconnection of power to the unit.

The unit authorities moved an appeal before the Chairman of the board.

The Chairman has provided temporary relief to the unit against the order for severing power connection.

Secretary of the pollution control board Sanjay Sood said Biological Oxygen Demand (BOD) and Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) in the water samples collected from the discharge coming out of the Tahliwal-based plant for March, April and May months was found to be high.

Initially, the plant authorities were issued notice to improve the situation. However, water samples failed continuously for three months and the order for severing power connection was passed.

He said though the Chairman of the board had provided temporary relief to the plant authorities, the authorities concerned have been directed to check the pollution level in the discharge coming from the plant.

In case the level of BOD and COD in the unit discharge fails to come at a normal level, further action could be initiated, he said.

When asked, Sanjay Sood admitted that the plant authorities had installed a treatment plant for controlling BOD in discharge. He, however, said despite that the pollution level in the samples collected by board officials was coming high.

The sources also indicated that action taken against Nestle might have been motivated by politics. Generally, industrial units in the Tahliwal area are under political pressure to recruit local residents coming with reference from local politicians.

Congress MLA from Santoshgarh Mukesh Agnihotri, who represents the Tahliwal industrial area, and the state BJP president , who represents the Una Assembly constituency, hold considerable sway in the area.

However, the management of the multinational company like Nestle is opting for its own parameters for recruitment.

Shimla, June 18
With the construction of a new earmarked house for the Chief Secretary, the top bureaucrat of the state will not have to wait and search for a suitable accommodation after assuming charge.

The elegant double-storey building has been purposely raised close to the Ellerslie, housing the state secretariat, after pulling down an old structure of the British era.

The physical proximity of the house will enable the Chief Secretary to walk to the Secretariat during snowfall in winter when the vehicular movement is disrupted due to slippery road conditions.

The building has been constructed in a record eight-month time by the PWD.

The government has spent about Rs 1.10 crore on the building, which is slightly more spacious with an covered area of 340 sq m and also has a room for office.

It will be mandatory for incumbents to stay in the earmarked house and if an officer chooses to live elsewhere for some reason he will have to pay a panel rent of Rs 6,400 per month.

Further, the house will not be allotted to anyone and will remain unoccupied or at best used as a guest house during the period. The incumbent, who stays in the earmarked accommodation, will pay Rs 3,200 per month as rent.

The slight disadvantage for incumbents is that they will have to vacate the accommodation within one month after completing the tenure. It can be extended by another month on health grounds, after which the penal provision will come into effect and a reluctant incumbent could be even “thrown out”, points out Chief Secretary Sudripta Roy, who moved into the new premises last week.

The new building has come up at the cost of nearly 140-year-old Tudor style timber-framed structure (house No. IV) in the Brockhurst Estate, which was dismantled.

Conservationists had raised a hue and cry and insisted that such heritage structures should be restored and not pulled down.

They maintained the preservation of “period aesthetics” was the key to conservation , otherwise, the erstwhile British summer capital would continue to lose its built heritage, a symbol of imperial grandeur, which earned it the title of the queen of hill stations.

However, with slanted tin roof and a lawn the new structure blends well with the hill architecture. The department maintained that the building had been constructed on old lines as far as exteriors were concerned. Changes had been made in the interior design and its covered area is slightly less than that of the dismantled structure.

Palampur, June 18
With the rise in the mercury, forest fires have been reported from 100 pine forests of Palampur town and its adjoining areas in the past two days.

Most of the pine forests in lower hills of the state are on fire for the past
two days.

In the absence of adequate financial support for preventive measures, the Forest Department has badly failed in dousing the fires.

In the absence of resources, the Forest Department this year had not been able to take even minimum required preventive measures like controlled burning and maintenance of fire lines in most of the forests in lower hills of the state.

As per norms, controlled burning has to be carried out at least over one-third of the total forest area susceptible to forest fires. The total area under pine forests, where controlled burning is required, is 1,50,000 hectares and as such preventive measures are to be carried out over 50,000 hectares.

Controlled burning enables the destruction of inflammable material which gets accumulated on the forest floor. An estimated 2 tonnes of pine needles are shed over one hectare of pine forest annually.

As the mercury rises in summers, the highly inflammable needles virtually transform pine forests into tinder boxes. 

Shimla, June 18
Brisk showers, accompanied by thunder, lashed parts of the state this afternoon. These not only provided much-needed relief from the oppressive heat, but also helped douse numerous forest fires raging in mid and lower hill areas of the state.

The showers lasting for almost two hours caused the mercury to plummet and also cleared the haze created by layers of smoke and dust. Some pockets in higher areas were lashed by a hailstorm.

Tourists, who were disappointed with the unusually warm weather in the Queen of Hills with mercury soaring to 31°C yesterday, were pleasantly surprised by the sudden change with the maximum temperature dipping to 26.5°C.

Una recorded the highest temperature in the state at 39.6°C, down 5°C from that Sunday. However, the tribal district of Kinnaur remained dry with Kalpa recording the highest temperature of the season at 27.4°C.

Bhuntar in Kullu had a high of 35.6°C, Nahan 31.8°C, Solan 31.8°C and Sundernagar 34°C.

The rain came in the nick of time as the state Cabinet, which met here today, under the chairmanship of Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal, had taken note of the high incidence of forest fires and directed the authorities to visit the affected forests and take effective action.

New Delhi/Shimla, June 18
Amid its running battle with the authorities in Kullu district of Himachal Pradesh over the functioning of the International Roerich Memorial Trust (IRMT), Russia has suggested the appointment of a new curator for the internationally renowned institution as one of the ways to resolve issues amicably.

The state government, meanwhile, decided to replace the current controversial curator and executive director of the Trust, Elina Adamkova, with the registration officer-cum-curator of the State Museum in the state capital, as a stopgap arrangement.

The decision to appoint a curator from the State Museum here has also been taken in view of the fact that somebody should take charge from Elina before she leaves to ensure that the list of all the paintings and artefacts is in place so that later on there is no blame game.

The state government is also keen that details of all financial transactions and donations that have come to the Trust are accounted for.

Sources said since no decision had been taken on Elina’s successor, it is Hari Singh Chauhan, registration-officer-cum curator at the State Museum, who will function as the curator till the Trust appoints a new nominee.

"After the team of experts from International Centre of the Roerichs (ICR), Moscow, completes the task of preparing the inventory by July 15, it is the curator of the State Museum who will take over charge from Elina and ensure that there is proper record and physical verification of all artefacts," said a senior bureaucrat.

In fact, it is not even certain if all the 52 paintings valued at over Rs 100 crore are still at Naggar.

The inventory will also help ascertain this fact as there has been speculation in this regard in various quarters.

A decision on the final appointment of a curator will be taken only at the meeting of the Trust, which is likely to meet shortly.

The state government has turned down the proposal of the Russian Embassy to appoint Chiryatyev Mikhail from St Petersburg in place of Elina.

Russian Embassy sources in New Delhi said Moscow has proposed Chiryatyev's name to the state government and was waiting for its response.

Chiryatyev has already arrived in New Delhi and would be going to Himachal Pradesh once the state government approves his name for the job and replace Elina, who had an extremely tense relationship with the Kullu authorities.

Russian Ambassador Alexander Kadakin, however, came out in strong defence of Elina, refuting the charge of financial irregularities against her.

“What kind of accusations can be floated against her (curator) when it is not in the curator’s nature of duties to deal with money or accounting? The state government had been failing to appoint an accountant for the trust for the last five years and now the curator is accused of wrong-doing,” he added.

On whether tension still persisted between the IRMT and the authorities in Kullu, he said: “On the whole, I want to underline that our mood is optimistic. Yet, problems have not been sorted out. There will be a commission coming from Moscow. There will be a Russian and an Indian curator. It is good to have two curators. But the trust has to be liberated from the chains of district authorities and a DC should not be the final decision-making authority or a treasurer. The trust cannot work in such a way.”

He said the new Russian curator was a famous Indologist and a scientist of high stature.

Kadakin said Russia had been insisting that the Indian government should be directly involved in the running of IRMT. “We even went to the extent of saying that the central government should take the trust under its wings.”

The Russian envoy said he had received some positive signs from Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal and the new Chief Secretary. “The previous Chief Secretary, outwardly a cultured and elegant person, was requesting Delhi to expel all Russians from the trust.

She did not reply to any of my more than a dozen letters. How can you expel Russians from the Roerich Trust?” he wondered.

Kadakin said the IRMT issue would remain within the focus of Moscow’s contacts with New Delhi for all times to come. The issue was raised during External Affairs Minister SM Krishna’s visit to Russia in November last year and also during Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s trip last year. 

Shimla, June 18
The BJP today challenged the Congress to fulfil its promise of providing unemployment allowance to jobless now with the help of the UPA regime rather than taking the people for a ride by making false promises just to grab power.

In a statement issued here today, state BJP spokesperson Ganesh Dutt said the Congress had promised to provide unemployment allowance to jobless educated youth if voted to power.

“If the Congress is so serious in its intentions then why they are not providing this allowance now so that people start trusting them,” he remarked.

The BJP leader said the Congress was known for making false promises but now people of the state know that they only make tall claims before the poll and forget everything after assuming office.

He also refuted the Congress claim that the Centre was providing maximum possible help to the state.

“Discrimination against Himachal is an open secret and people of the state have started asking questions that what have been done for the state by the two Union Ministers,” he said.

Dutt added that the BJP would ensure its return to power by making the “Mission Repeat” a success.

Solan, June 18
The Baddi-Barotiwala-Nalagarh (BBN) industrial area will soon get an intellectual property rights cell, making it the seventh such cell in North India. Apart from this, a training centre for the pharmaceutical industry will also be opened in the BBN area.

This was announced by Union Minister for Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) Virbhadra Singh at Barog after dedicating its newly constructed building to the MSME Development Centre at Chambaghat.

This cell will help investors in filing for patents and verifying trade names in Himachal itself, thus saving the hassle of going to Delhi.

While addressing entrepreneurs and MSME officials, Virbhadra Singh said lack of trained manpower had reduced the employability of the Himachali youth. It was, therefore, imperative to open such training centres.

He said the ministry was open to address the problems of investors and the tool room at Baddi would be developed into a full-fledged facility if the state government provided 10-15 acres of land.

He said the need of the hour was to open various fruit processing industries in interior areas of the state so that local growers got better remuneration for their produce.

Earlier, addressing the gathering, MSME secretary RK Mathur said Himachal was yet to avail benefits of the Cluster Development Scheme which provided funds for collective development of an area. He said Himachal had made a beginning with three proposals for Rampur, Kangra and Hamirpur having been sent which would come up for clearance in the ministry’s meeting tomorrow.

The MSME ministry would soon make its operations online with four schemes like Cluster Development, Design Clinic, IPR and ISO Certification being the first to become online in the next few weeks. This would facilitate the MSME sector who could use the online facility to apply for various schemes.

Dr Rajinder Chauhan, Advisor, Industry, Government of Himachal, said the department had mooted a proposal to set up three industry clusters in the BBN area and they were facilitating the MSME ministry to work out its nitty-gritty.

Kangra, June 18
An incident of indiscipline at Dr Rajendra Prashad Government Medical College, Tanda, by a group of students was reported in the wee hours of this morning when a student of third year was brought to the Emergency Department at 3 am with a rumour that he was ragged. But ultimately it was found to be an incident of student altercation in a drunken condition.

Principal Anil Chauhan this evening said Chief Warden of College Hostels RK Bharti had reported to him at 3 am telephonically

that some students in a car and on a motorcycle had gone out of the campus late in the night and after indulging in drinking had an altercation. One of them had called Ambulance 108 and was shifted to the Department of Casualty.

Dr Chauhan said he enquired from in charge, Casualty, Dr Sareeta, at 6 am and she informed him that the students were allegedly drunk. The third-year student had no major injuries. She told the Principal that the police had also arrived.

He said he had sought a report from the Chief Warden and warden Milap regarding the incident.

DSP, Kangra, Dinesh Kumar said the matter was not brought to their notice following a compromise between the students.

Kangra, June 18
A controversy had cropped up over the public meeting of Team Anna members and social activists Arvind Kejriwal and Manish Sisodia scheduled to be held here at the Tehsil Chowk on June 23, as the state government had not granted permission to hold the meeting because Anurag Thakur, MP and son of the Chief Minister, was also visiting the town the same day.

Aman Guleria, a CPI activist and organiser of the rally, told mediapersons at a press conference here recently that under the banner of India Against Corruption, a public meeting was scheduled to be organised at this temple town on June 23.

The rally would be addressed by Arvind Kejriwal, Manish Sisodia and Gopal Roy.

Guleria said the SDM, Kangra, and DC, Kangra, were on leave and the ADM was not available for granting the permission. Guleria warned the state government even if they were not permitted to hold this public meeting on June 23 at Tehsil Chowk, the meeting would be held there without permission.

Rajan Sushant, MP, Kangra, extended support for holding the public meeting.

Nurpur, June 18
The Himachal Pradesh State Body-Building and Fitness Association organised a seven state body-building championship, Mr Himachal-2012, at Bachat Bhavan here last night in which over a 100 body-builders from Punjab, Haryana, J&K, Delhi, UP, Chandigarh and HP took part.

The association jury, led by its Chairman Shahbaj Khan, declared Mandeep Singh from Amritsar as Champion Mr Himachal-2012. He was awarded a cash prize of Rs 21,000. Ankush Mahajan from Pathankot and Honey Kumar from Batala, respectively, declared as first and second runners-up. They were awarded cash prizes of Rs 11,000 and Rs 5,100, respectively. All winners of the event were given trophies and certificates, along with cash prizes, by chief guest local MLA Rakesh Pathania and guest of honour former Municipal Council president RK Mahajan.