Shimla, July 28
Even as efforts are on to pacify Virbhadra Singh with chairperson of the Screening Committee Sheila Dikshit meeting him today, the former Chief Minister is seeking the lion’s share for his supporters in the ticket allotment for the Assembly elections while keeping all political options open.

Sheila Dikshit today met Virbhadra at his residence in New Delhi to mollify the veteran leader who is miffed over his non-inclusion in the Screening Committee and over the constitution of the jumbo-sized Campaign Committee, which he was heading. There are also indications that the former Chief Minister is keen to contest the Assembly elections from Shimla (rural) Assembly constituency so that he is considered a serious contender for the hot seat in case the Congress returns to power.

There is speculation that he could have a meeting with party chief Sonia Gandhi next week.

Virbhadra, who was to arrive in Shimla tomorrow, is now expected to be here only on Monday on a three-day tour. It is during this period that he will weigh all his options and discuss with his supporters his next plan of action.

Dikshit is learnt to have assured him that he was a senior and respected leader who would not be ignored in the selection of candidates and other party affairs in the state. Ahmed Patel, Political Secretary to AICC chief Sonia Gandhi, has also told Virbhadra that he would be taken into confidence at every stage, including the ticket distribution.

Senior party leader Digvijay Singh also met him.

With Virbhadra threatening to keep himself aloof from campaigning and all other responsibilities, the high command has put in all its efforts to ensure that he mellows down and remains the star campaigner for the party. The party does not want a repeat of Uttarakhand and Punjab where rebels played a spoilsport and infighting gave a clear edge to the BJP.

While keeping everyone guessing about his next move amidst speculation that he could consider joining some regional outfit or float his own party, senior Congress leaders are keen to see the stalemate being resolved.

Apprehending that his supporters will be sidelined in the ticket allotment, Virbhadra is keen that his opponents within the party do not damage his prospects of emerging as a strong contender for the post of Chief Minister.

Mandi/Naggar, July 28
Peace has finally returned to the International Roerich Memorial Trust (IRMT), thanks to the efforts put in by Chief Secretary Sudripta Roy. He will inspect the works being carried out at the museum tomorrow, setting the stage for the smooth transition of power from the controversial curator, Alena Adamkova, to the two curators, an Indian and a Russian on August 7.

This development followed soon after Russian Ambassador Alexander Kadakin and other officials of the Russian Embassy and officials of the state government celebrated the 20th anniversary of the IRMT founded by S Roerich. They also had a formal discussion and expressed their desire to resolve the issue peacefully.

S Roerich had married Indian actress Devika Rani. He himself was a great painter and son of Nicholas Roerich, the great Russian painter who made Naggar his home and created “some masterpieces” that today have become a spiritual heritage of humanity in the Himalayas and adorns the IRMT museum at Naggar. But ironically no authentic inventory of this museum exists.

Talking to The Tribune, Roy said: “We will appoint two curators, a Russian and an Indian, to the satisfaction of all parties. The Russian curator will look after the museum and his Indian counterpart will take care of the administration and finance part and there is no conflict of interest now in the IRMT”.

He said they would review the progress on the inventory of the museum being made jointly by the team from the International Roerich Centre, Moscow, and the state museum registering authority, Shimla.

“The inventory is in final stages. We will also review the progress of the restoration works of the building,” Roy said.

The Chief Secretary said the two curators would take over the charge from Adamkova by August 7. “We will set up a museum and an art school there before they take over from her,” he added.

Besides, the state has received the consent of the Ministry of Cultural Affairs (MoCA) and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) for the mutually agreed arrangement to run the IRMT, Naggar, putting an end to the series of controversies that had shattered the functioning of the trust.

“We also conveyed our agreement to this arrangement to the Department of Culture, MoCA, and MoFA to run the trust to best satisfaction of all trustees,” Roy said.

“The Russian trustees have also agreed to this arrangement”, he added.

Besides, the government has asked for the annual grant from MoCA to foot the salary bills of the two curators and other employees. But the arrangement is that funds for salary of the Russian curator will come from the Russian side. But we have funds as of now and this issue will be sorted out as well,” Roy said.

Mandi, July 28
Experts assert that the IIT, Mandi, is committed to green technology with human face to devise globally recognised solutions for the problems of society and industry by applying computational intelligence to tap green energy that is in sync with the fragile Himalayan eco-system.

Addressing a five-day seminar on “Computational Intelligence Applications to Renewable Energy” organised by the IIT, Mandi, recently, acting director, Prof Lalit Malhotra, Prof Subrata Ray and Prof B Subramanian said the IIT, Mandi, was committed to accomplishing this task.

Research efforts done by the IIT, Mandi, would go a long way in finding a lasting solution to industries in the Himalayan region with globally recognised standards. The seminar provided a platform for different groups to solve the challenges of green energy for a sustainable society, they said.

In his inaugural address, Professor Malhotra highlighted the accomplishment and research activities of the IIT, Mandi, and shared his vision to achieve the objective of a “just, inclusive and sustainable society”.

“The thrust area is to devise globally recognised solutions for the problems of society and industry, particularly in the fragile eco-system of the Himalayas,” he said.

Professor Ray said the scientists must pool in efforts for the integrated research planning for energy as well as natural resources in India.

“The philosophical view of word ‘energy’ itself acts as catalyst for its wider application,” said Dr Subramanian.

The experts said computational intelligence techniques could find a solution to renewable energy problems. Various issues of the electric grid operation, management and control were also discussed.

Dr BS Rajpurohit and Dr Anil Kr Sao, coordinators of the seminar, emphasised that tapping of small hydro energy, wind energy, solar energy remained expensive and needed some cheaper technology suited to the Indian power sector.

Prof Ashwani Chandel from NIT, Hamirpur, Dr NM Pindoriya from IIT, Gandhi Nagar, VK Agarwal from NLDC, Pawan Kohli from HPPCL, Mandi, Bandanjot Singh from National Instruments and Dr Umakant Divedi from RGIEPT were among the speakers. A field visit to 990MW Dehar Power House at Slapper was also organised.

The seminar was supported by the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research and the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy. It was jointly organised by the IIT, Mandi, and IEEE, Delhi.

The seminar drew more than 35 participants from academic institutions, power utilities and industries from different states, including UP, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Delhi, Haryana, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and Uttarakhand.

Shimla, July 28
The Queen’s Court in London has given 14 days’ time to the lawyer of Brahmi Devi, who is waging a legal battle to get back the stolen George Cross awarded to her husband, Naik Kirpa Ram, to provide documentary evidence and a video conference with the widow so as to substantiate her claim to the medal.

It was on the request of Vijay Sharma, a London-based lawyer of Himachal origin, that the Queen’s Court on July 23 granted 14 days’ time to produce more documentary evidence in support of the old woman’s claim.

Her lawyer is arranging all the evidence, which will then be presented in the court to get back the possession of the George Cross, which could fetch over Rs 50 lakh in an auction.

“The court has sought recording of Brahmi Devi’s own version of the story taken through video conferencing with her lawyer, which was done yesterday with the help of an interpreter,” said SS Thakur, her local lawyer and her neighbour in her native place.

He said the court has also asked for the CD, which was presented by Ashok Nath in court to claim that the medal was gifted by the old woman on her own.

The CD according to Nath has recording of the year 2000, on the basis of which he claims that it was gifted to Kirpal Singh by Brahmi Devi, out of her own sweet will and without anyone coercing or cheating her to part with the precious medal.

Thakur said the court had also sought photographs and details of the three other medals that were in possession of Brahmi Devi and awarded to her husband during other operation he was engaged in.

He has already got the medals photographed and sent them by post to London.

The George Cross was awarded to Naik Kirpa Ram of the 8th Battalion of the 13th Frontier Force Rifles in 1946 posthumously.

This is probably the last chance for India to get back the medal as the London Metropolitan Police has decided to return the George Cross to Nath, as they failed to establish any criminal offence against him.

The Indian High Commission in UK had advised the Ministry of External Affairs to either send a Himachal police officer to London to pursue the case or engage a lawyer on behalf of Brahmi Devi to stall the return of the medal. Fortunately, Vijay Sharma on reading the news himself offered to plead her case.

Shimla, July 28
Newly appointed Director General of Police (DGP) ID Bhandari today said a multi-pronged strategy would be adopted to tackle the only organised crime of narcotics and drug trafficking in the state.

Addressing a press conference here today, for the first time after assuming charge Bhandari, a 1982-batch IPS officer said checking the cultivation of cannabis and opium in Kullu-Manali and other parts of the state would be his top priority. “We need to adopt a multi-pronged strategy to check the aspect of illegal cultivation and its destruction, its trafficking and, above all, its consumption, especially by youth,” he stated.

Bhandari, who while in the CID had focused on the menace of the cultivation of cannabis and opium and visited far-flung and inaccessible areas, said narcotics was the only organised crime in the state and all-out efforts must be made to wean away people from this illegal act.

The acting DGP said efforts would also be made towards making the police function not as a force, but as a social organisation. “I am keen that the image of the police changes for the good and the behaviour of the force with people is good and humane,” he said.

Another area where Bhandari is keen to bring about a change is adopting a more professional approach in dealing with crimes so that the life of innocent people does not get spoilt. “I have often come across innocent people who got framed, but due to tardy or improper investigation they had to spend years in jail,” he said. “I would not ever want any innocent to languish in jails for shortcomings on our part,” he added.

In reply to a query on undue interference by politicians in police functioning, he said this was just a perception, which was not always true. “If the police does a fair job without any bias or vested interest, there is no reason why anyone will bother,” he said.

He said people must also cooperate with the police so that there was proper law and order and there was no injustice with anyone. He said he would give special attention to employees issues like induction, promotions and filling up of vacancies to improve the functioning of the police.

Shimla, July 28
Keeping in mind the growing popularity of Shimla, the state government has proposed a Rs 515-crore drinking water supply scheme for the town.

Addressing a press conference here today, Irrigation and Public Health Minister Ravinder Singh Ravi said: “The escalating water requirement of the town requires that we plan well in advance so that neither tourism is hit nor local residents face inconvenience.”

“We have already sent the proposal to the Urban Development Ministry so that funds can be arranged for the project as it requires funds to the tune of Rs 515 crore,” he said.

Ravi said the town had not been facing water shortage for the past two years as the Giri Water Supply Scheme with a capacity of 20 MLD was supplementing the supply from four other sources.

“We have been providing the Municipal Corporation (MC) with over 30 MLD of water daily and at times even more than this, which is more than sufficient for a population of 1.75 lakh,” he said.

He, however, lamented that there was almost 30 per cent of wastage during distribution which is taken care of by the MC in Shimla.

“The leakage points in the Giri have more or less been plugged, but the wastage in distribution needs to be checked as this results in lot of wastage,” he said.

He said he would be more than happy if the MC was able to achieve the task of providing water 24X7 in the state capital.

“Our efforts are also aimed in this direction, but the MC must also make efforts to foot the Rs 133 crore water bill it owes to us,” he chided.

Ravi said efforts were on to encourage people to adopt rainwater harvesting and other such measures to save drinking water.

He said in the state almost 70 litres of water per day per person was being supplied as compared to 40 litres at the national level.

The minister said all the 20,118 Census villages had been provided potable drinking water and efforts were on to cover all the hamlets also. 

Solan, July 28
Various private universities in the state will now be able to complete their admission process till August 30 keeping in view the schedule of admissions in government institutions.

Earlier, the last date for admissions to private universities was August 7.

This was announced by chairperson of the HP Private Educational Institutions Regulatory Commission Sarojini Ganju Thakur after a request was made by vice-chancellors of various private universities at Baddi yesterday.

Though the vice-chancellors were citing an apex court judgment to extend the admission date till September 30, officials of the commission said they would look into their suggestions. Since some of the private universities had barely filled 15 to 25 per cent of their seats, they were now demanding an extension in the last date of admission.

Earlier, the chairperson appreciated private universities for strictly adhering to the eligibility criteria for admissions at a workshop convened on “Achieving Excellence through Accreditation”, which was conducted at the Baddi University of Emerging Sciences and Technology, Baddi, in collaboration with the National Board of Accreditation (NBA).

Thakur emphasised the need for accreditation to obtain recognition for quality both within the country and abroad.

The Member Secretary, National Board of Accreditation, Dr DK Palliwal informed that if the accreditation parameters were achieved faster, Himachal would be recognised as an educational hub.

He said this would enhance the employability of technical graduates and facilitate the mobility of people for academic pursuit and search for job.

Prof Ranjan Bhatacharya and Dr Om Vikas discussed the processes and self-assessment procedures that the NBA had adopted to lead to accreditation.

Many private universities agreed, in principle, that they would start preparing the self-assessment report and pursue pre-accreditation of diplomas, degrees and postgraduate programmes in engineering and technology, management, architecture, pharmacy and hotel management.

Chamba, July 28
To keep vigil on the crowd at the historic Minjar fair in Chamba from tomorrow to August 5, the police department has beefed up security arrangements on the border check-points along the neighbouring states and planned to set up CCTV cameras at six major locations identified by it.

SP Kuldeep Sharma said in Chamba recently that the CCTV cameras would help in keeping constant surveillance and recording the day and night footage.

The CCTV cameras would also help in identifying anti-social elements found indulging in evil acts during the fair and those caught in the footage of the CCTV cameras would be dealt with strictly.

The SP said the police assistance control rooms were also being set up for the convenience of the general public. Simultaneously, he appealed to the public to extend their cooperation to the police in maintaining law and order.

The traffic police had also been put on its toes to check traffic hazard during the fair and restrict the traffic up to the parking points, the SP informed.

Solan, July 28
Even as various school buildings in the Arki constituency cry for repair and maintenance, the district administration appears to be finding them useful for holding Prashashan Janta Ke Dwar programmes to solve public grievances rather than facilitating children.

A glaring example of this was visible yesterday where the premises of Government Senior Secondary School (GSSS), Saur, was used for this programme and MLA Govind Sharma used the opportunity to propagate the achievements of the state government.

The move has drawn flak from the Congress with Block Congress Committee president Sanjay Awasthy terming this as “misuse of government machinery”.

He added that the MLA had failed to address the woes of various schools of his constituency, which had been causing hardships to children.

In Government Primary School, Jobri, small children were forced to face inconvenience, especially during rains, as the old building had collapsed several months ago and the construction of the new one was yet to begin.

In GSSS, Sarianj, classes XI and XII were being held in a government guest house as the school lacked adequate space. Still worse, in the GSSS, Ganaghughat, more than one class was being held in a single room.

As if this was not enough, the state government had invested about Rs 30 lakh on the construction of four new classrooms of GSSS, Materni, but the school authorities had declined to take their charges there as the construction was substandard. The classes continued to be run in the old building.

The Opposition Congress, while terming this as “misuse of Central schemes”, has demanded an inquiry into the substandard construction.

Awasthy said it was lamentable that the MLA was misusing the school premises to hold public programmes highlighting his party’s achievements while bothering little to provide even the basic facilities to various schools of his constituency.

He said the state government should enquire into the case of GSSS, Materni, and fix the responsibility for the substandard work executed after spending Rs 30 lakh.

Kangra, July 28
The Kangra District Beopar Mandal recently threatened to resort to an agitation. It said traders would close their business establishments and hand over their keys to the government if e-return filing of Excise and Taxation was not made optional.

Ved Sharma, Roshan Lal Khanna and Bushan lal Sharma, president, vice-president and general secretary of the Kangra District Beopar Mandal, respectively, said this while addressing a press conference here.

They said the state had decided to seek excise and taxation returns from businessmen through e-return filing, which they described was cumbersome for members of the business community.

They said businessmen were already under pressure due to various Acts like the Weights and Measures Act, Shop and Labour Act, Excise and Taxation Act, Food Act and Municipal Act. And now, by introducing the e-return filing procedure it had further added to the trauma of the business community.

They demanded that if the government was eager to help the business community of the state a single window system should be set up where issues related to weights and measures, shop and labour, excise and taxation, food and municipality would be addressed.

Bilaspur, July 28
Bambar Thakur, a former state Youth Congress general secretary and a former Congress state secretary, has said the BJP government had been treating Bilaspur district as an appendage and it had always been given a step-motherly treatment.

Bambar Thakur, a politician who fought the last Assembly election as an Independent and got the second position in garnering votes against the winning BJP candidate, relegating official Congress candidate to the third position and was once again taken into the party due to his influence on voters, gave several instances to prove his point.

He said despite acute drought conditions, no tanker was deployed in any scarcity-hit village in the district and lakhs of people suffered for two months, while BJP leaders slept in AC rooms.

Thakur said all the projects started by the former Virbhadra Singh government were neglected here. He said the district hospital was without specialists and the trauma centre had not been made functional. The long-awaited artificial lake and the re-location of old town ancient temples of Bilaspur to new town were still a dream for people.

Kangra, July 28
Mehar-u-Din (50) was electrocuted on Wednesday evening when he came in touch with a 11-KW high tension wire at Bhatti village falling under Jawalamukhi police station. The police said Mehar was working on the second floor of a house and when he came in touch with the wire and fell down from 20-foot height and received head injuries. He was rushed to DRPGMC, Tanda, where he was declared brought dead.

In another incident, Sanjay Kumar (32) of Passu village succumbed to his burn injuries at the Tanda hospital on Wednesday. The police said Sanjay was preparing a Chinese dish at his shop in Sheela Chowk on July 22 last and following a gas leak, his clothes caught fire and he was left with 70 per cent burns. — OC

Chamba, July 28
Kanwar Chirag Bhanu Singh, Sessions Judge, Chamba, today sentenced Ramu of Baniyag village, Chamba district, to seven years’ rigorous imprisonment (RI) and fined Rs 10,000 for kidnapping and raping a girl. In default of the payment of the fine, he would have to undergo further imprisonment for six months under Section 376, IPC, and RI for two years and a fine of Rs 10,000 under Section 366, IPC.

A press note e-mailed by the office of the district attorney, Chamba, today said on November 26 last year Ramu picked up the victim from her courtyard. He gagged her mouth and carried her to a nearby road where he put her in a pick-up van. Another person Ramesh was accompanying the accused. Both of them drove the girl towards Chamba and offered her cold drink. After drinking the same, she became unconscious. The accused took the girl to Kakira township and raped her.

Both the accused threatened to kill her if she raised an alarm. She was kept confined to the room at Kakira.

On November 27, 2011, the girl somehow managed to reach the road and took a bus to Chamba. She narrated the whole incident to her mother and then she accompanied her parents to the police station at Chamba.

A case was registered and the matter investigated. Thereafter, a challan was presented to the court.