the warning

* There are chances of bar on direct involvement of teachers in politics
* Govt may consider it if violence continues on campus and at colleges
* We will seek legal opinion in case there is no let-up, says Dhumal 
* Incidents on campus and at boys’ hostels had led to court intervention

Hamirpur, August 2
Nearly 100 seats in the MTech course in different disciplines in the open vacancy category at the National Institute of Technology (NIT) here for the current session have not been filled due to shortage of hostel accommodation.

The NIT authorities had informed the Ministry of Human Resource Development (HRD) about the decision of not filling the seats a few days back.

During the last session, the NIT authorities had not filled about 350 seats of the MTech course for the same reason and directed all department heads not to hold the second counselling for the course.

The main reason for not filling the seats was the non-availability of hostel accommodation. The courses were basically residential. Four or five students were accommodated in training house rooms.

Filling seats in the open category gave students from the state the chance through spot admission.

Work on constructing a mega-hostel on the campus, with a proposed capacity of nearly 1,500 boys, and a separate hostel for girls, which was to be completed this year, was still going on.

Admission for MTech was conducted online by the NIT at Jaipur, through which a majority of seats were filled on the basis of GATE during the current session.

Hamirpur NIT’s dean academics Susheel Chauhan said, “Certain seats in the SC/ST category and vacant seats are not being filled on the recommendation of a committee due to paucity of hostel accommodation.”

Shimla, August 2
After failure of the North Grid for two consecutive days, the power scenario in the region was further hit when excessive silt in the Sutlej forced closure of the two major hydroelectric projects, Nathpa Jhakri and Karcham Wangtu, late last evening.

The project authorities had no option but to suspend generation as the silt levels crossed 6,000 ppm (parts per million), which is 2,000 ppm more than the permissible limit. The Karcham Wangtu was generating 1,200 MW and the Nathpa Jhakri 1,620 MW when the silt caused disruption in generation.

The region was deprived of over 2,800 MW of power and Himachal lost its share of 545 MW of power in the Nathpa Jhakri, besides 12 per cent free power as royalty from the Karcham Wangtu project.

Efforts are being made to resume generation as the level of silt has started receding. Out of the total four units of the Karcham Wangtu project, two had been made operational by this evening. However, they were together generating only 360 MW as the level of silt was still higher than permissible limits. 

Silt impact

* Excessive silt in Sutlej forces closure of both hydroelectric projects
* Project authorities forced to suspend generation as silt levels cross 6,000 parts per million
* Himachal loses share of 545 MW in Nathpa Jhakri, 12 per cent free power as royalty from Karcham Wangtu project

Shimla, August 2
The 24-hour chain hunger strike of contract labour employed at the Nathpa-Jhakri Power Station in Jhakri entered the 50th day today, during which more than 250 workers took part in the protest.

The stir is being spearheaded by the Satluj Jal Vidyut Nigam Workers’ Union affiliated to the CITU. The chain hunger strike was started on June 14 to press its demand for enforcing the Contract Labour (Regulation and Abolition) Act; the Factories Act, 1948; the Payment of Wages Act, 1936; the Employees’ Provident Funds and (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act, 1952; the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947; and other labour-related laws. The union is demanding protection of interests of the workers who were being exploited by contractors.

The Satluj Jal Vidyut Nigam has deployed through various contractors more than 550 highly skilled, skilled, semi-skilled and unskilled manual labourers to carry on the perennial nature of maintenance work. Majority of contract labourers had completed 5 to 7 years of service with the principal employers, the Nathpa-Jhakri Power Station.

The local administration convened a conciliation meeting in Jhakri on July 29 to resolve the issue, but no settlement could be arrived at.

The union submitted a memorandum to Chief Minister PK Dhumal during his visit to Jhakri on July 30 and urged him to intervene and issue instructions to the management of the project.

The union demanded that while renewing contract of the existing contractor or the new contractor, clauses to safeguard the interests of workers should be incorporated. The union said the hunger strike would continue until the demands of workers were met.

Shimla, August 2
The ambitious project of the municipal corporation (MC) to rake funds by way of imposing green tax on vehicles from outside entering the state capital may have to wait.

The National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) does not allow the installation of digitised electronic barriers on its roads. The contract has been awarded, but the project has been delayed for the last five months.

Deputy mayor Tikender Panwar met Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways CP Joshi in New Delhi today. “With the ministry not allowing any structure on national highways, the matter will have to be discussed again on August 9. The minister said we could impose green tax by putting up a temporary rope barrier,” Panwar said.

He pointed out that since the installation of a digitised electronic barrier was part of the request for proposal (RFP), the MC will have to take a fresh look at the issue.

“I will return and discuss the issue with the Mayor and the Commissioner. It will then be decided on how to go about it,” he said. He added that the MC had lost Rs 2.5 lakh since green tax was to be imposed from April 1.

The contract for two years had been awarded for Rs 12.02 crore to a Patiala-based company. Tax on the lines of Manali would have raked funds for the MC.

The cash-strapped MC had desperately been looking for ways to foot salary bills of its 1,250 employees, with not enough money to pay its electricity and water bills. A nominal amount would go to the NHAI.

Green barriers would be installed at the four entry points of Totu, Tara Devi, Dhalli and Mahli. The MC’s proposal on green tax got the nod from the government after much delay.

poor mc

* Cash-strapped MC still awaits imposition
* NHAI’s no to digitised electronic barriers
* Contract awarded, project 5 months late
* Civic body has lost Rs 2.5 lakh already

Shimla, August 2
Chief Minister PK Dhumal today urged commuters in the state capital to share vehicles to reduce the increasing traffic congestion and pollution here. Speaking at a function organised by Doordarshan here, he said sharing private vehicles would be in the interest of commuters and good for the environment.

“Considering the burden on roads, it is in everyone’s interest that vehicles are shared for going to school or office. It will help reduce traffic jams and congestion,” he said.

In reply to another question about the use of CNG, he said the state government had sent his request for the supply of CNG to the Centre.

“Border areas, including the Baddi-Barotiwala-Nalagarh industrial belt, will get the supply of CNG when Chandigarh gets connected. The fuel is not very successful on steep hilly roads,” he said.

The Chief Minister said the government was trying to increase the road network in the state and improve the condition of existing roads.

“The Chinese company carrying out work on the Theog-Hatkoti-Rohru road has moved court, but we have directed the Public Works Department to keep the road in working condition and complete the rest of the work,” he said.

Solan, August 2
Curbing illicit narcotics trade is a major headache for the police as its cultivation is not only scattered and spread across various districts of Himachal, its transit from bordering districts like Bilaspur, Una, Solan, Sirmaur etc has become a cause of concern for it.

The police is now focusing on making the trade less lucrative as it has been observed that people smuggle narcotics for making easy money. With conviction rate being a mere 18 per cent in such cases, hundreds of convicts are lodged in various jails of Mandi, Kullu etc.

Talking to mediapersons here today, Director-General of Police ID Bhandari said the rising number of deaths in accidents across the state was a cause of concern as nearly 1,200 people lost their lives and nearly four times this number were injured annually in the state. This was the largest human loss as even in murder cases only 150 lives were lost in a year on an average.

He said they would focus on devising a strategy to decrease the rate of accidents by involving NGOs, media and other sections of the community.

Bhandari also expressed the need for sensitising people to impart family values to their children so that their indulgence in substance abuse could be decreased. The gravity of this problem could be assessed from the fact that almost 30 per cent of schoolboys and 20 per cent of schoolgirls in Shimla had been found to be indulging in substance abuse.

He said as many as 70 FIRs had been registered on the basis of complaints received through SMSes.

He added that they would focus on carrying out scientific investigations to enhance the rate of conviction in the state. He said they would focus on making investigations faster and transparent.

IG (South) AP Siddiqui, ADGP (Law and Order), SR Marhi, ADGP Prithvi Raj, SP, Solan, Hardesh Bisht, Additional SP Vinod Kumar were among those present on the occasion.

Shimla, August 2
Scholars from different countries and diverse disciplines will provide an insight into the literature produced during the early modern period (1400-1800 AD) during the four-day international conference to be held at the Indian Institute of Advanced Study (IIAS) from August 3 to 6.

As many as 35 scholars, including 18 from the US, eight from Europe, three from Japan and six from India, will go into different aspects of works pertaining to the era of prolific literary, artistic and cultural production, reflecting the political and economic dynamism of the period. The era is often dismissed in colonial scholarship as a period of gradual decline and stagnation.

Convener of the conference Rajvinder Singh said during the past 30 years, scholars in India and abroad had been re-assessing the cultural and artistic contributions of the period and the conference provided an ideal platform for the purpose.

It is the 11th such international conference and the third to be held in the country. The focus of the conference would be on literature produced during the Bhakti movement. Works of poets like Sant Tuka Ram from Maharashtra and other poets from Gujarat would also feature during the conference.

Director, IIAS, Peter D’ Souza said the institute was engaged in an intellectual dialogue within and without India and the international conference had played a crucial role in bringing scholars together to discuss their work and share ideas.

The conference provides a unique forum in which researchers from variety of disciplines like language, literature, religious studies, history, art history, and philology can exchange information and ideas across disciplinary lines, as well as across different regions, times, and literary traditions.

Dharamsala, August 2
Sheela Devi, a destitute widow in her late seventies, had approached the Deputy Commissioner’s office for financial grant. She was finding it difficult to approach the office once again, as she had already received financial aid of Rs 500 from the same office a few months ago.

Enquiries revealed that she was a destitute as her children were living separately and did not support her financially. At this old age, she was forced to work at a house to make ends meet.

Though officials concerned wanted to help her, keeping in view her case, Himachal Pradesh pension rules did not permit them to help her.

Talking to The Tribune on the condition of anonymity, officials said the only way permanent financial help could be extended to destitute parents was to give them old-age pension.

Under this scheme, the aged received a paltry sum of Rs 400 per month as financial aid. However, as per Himachal Pradesh pension rules, 2010, the income of children was included as part of the income of parents.

In such a case, even if a son was employed as daily wage worker on minimum wage and was earning more than Rs 36,000 per annum, his income would be included as part of the income of parents. This clause applied even to cases in which children were living separately.

Old-age social security pension could only be given to people having below poverty line income. The rules were framed as it was found that non-deserving persons were drawing social security pension in many cases.

Due to the rules, certain deserving cases like Sheela Devi were being deprived of benefits of the social security pension scheme of the state government.

When contacted, Kangra Deputy Commissioner KR Bharti admitted that deserving destitute parents were being deprived of social security pension in many cases.

“I will write to the state government to relax the rule of including the income of children as part of the income of parents while deciding social security pension,” he said.

Himachal Pradesh had implemented the HP Maintenance of Parents and Independent Act. Under the Act, parents could be given the right over ancestral property in case children did not look after them.

Enquiries from district officials revealed that hardly any complaint had been received in the district under the Act. In influential and middle-class families, parents did not wish to defame their children.

In low-income and illiterate families, parents did not know about the Act. If field officers could decide deserving beneficiaries, many aged destitute persons people like Sheela Devi could benefit.

inclusion impact

* Income of children living separately also included as part of income of parents
* Many deserving destitute and aged persons deprived of social security pension

Chamba, August 2
The Chamba branch of the State Bank of India (SBI) distributed coins among the public at its stall set up in the exhibition of the ongoing Minjar fair in Chamba.

Inaugurating the SBI booth, HP Vidhan Sabha Speaker Tulsi Ram applauded the role of the SBI and its services being rendered to people of surrounding areas. The Speaker also put in writing his remarks in this regard in the SBI’s visitor’s book.

On the occasion, the Speaker was accompanied by Ashok Kumar Arora, Regional Manager of the SBI’s Hamirpur region, and Vinod Tickoo, Chief Manager of the head office branch of Chamba district.

At its stall the SBI displayed products of successful entrepreneurs and self-help groups of the region financed by the bank.

Later, a meeting of SBI branch managers of Chamba district was held which was presided over by Arora.

Then a sapling was planted by the regional manager on the lawn in front of the bank building which is maintained by the SBI.

Hamirpur, August 2
The Himachal Pradesh Government College Contract Teachers Association (HPGCCTA) has urged the state government to regularise the services of teachers working on contract basis after completing three years.

Association president Dr Joginder Saklani and general secretary Saurabh Sood held a state-level meeting in this regard on Sunday. “College teachers have decided to meet Chief Minister PK Dhumal soon to take up their demands,” they said.

“Since college teachers working on contract basis are selected through the HP Public Service Commission, they can’t be equated with other government employees and, thus, should be regularised after three years of service,” they said.

The HPGCCTA has also demanded benefits such as DA equivalent to that of regular college teachers, maternity and paternity leave etc equivalent to that of regular college teachers for teachers working on contract basis.

“The association has also threatened to launch an agitation if the government fails to concede to these demands,” they said.

Shimla, August 2
The toll in yesterday’s accident that took place near Sheelghat in the Jubbal area of Shimla has risen to seven, with the death of two women injured in the mishap succumbing to their injuries.

The two critically injured sisters, Shanno and Babli who were under treatment at Indira Gandhi Medical College (IGMC) here, breathed their last today morning. Harinder, husband of Shanno, also lost his life in the mishap. The couple was from Khangta village and is survived by an eight-year-old daughter.

The Balero camper rolled down into a deep gorge, last evening killing five persons. The deceased include Deep Chauhan (38), Akshay (28), Pankaj (22), Amit (23) and Harinder. Except Harinder, the four youth belonged to Sheel village.