Shimla, August 8
Doling out more sops to employees ahead of Assembly elections, the government today decided to introduce the assured career progression scheme (ACPS), providing time-bound promotion after four, nine and 14 years of service, with effect from August 27, 2009.

The decision was taken by the state Cabinet, which met under the chairmanship of Chief Minister PK Dhumal here today. It also decided to restore the old ACPS, with promotion after eight, 16, 24 and 32 years of service.

In both schemes, notional benefit would be given with effect from August 27, 2009, while actual benefit would be accrued from the date of notification.

The Cabinet also decided to review its earlier decision, taken on July 27 this year, for granting ACPS to eight specific categories, which would get actual benefit from the date of notification, on the pattern of schemes approved today.

It also decided to regularise the service of employees working on contract with various departments recruited after completion of codal formalities who had completed six years of service.

Employees on contract would be treated on a par with regular employees over transfer on the completion of three years of service at one station, which would be applicable from the next session.

Part-time employees would be promoted to daily wage workers on completion of nine years of service instead of 10 years. Employees on contract would be eligible to 10-day annual non-transferable medical leave.

It was also decided to provide compassionate employment to the next of kin of employees on contract in case of death in harness. All eligible cases would be considered in accordance with the policy dated January 18, 1990.

The Cabinet decided to introduce the elementary meritorious scholarship scheme, under which an annual scholarship of Rs 800 would be provided to two girls and boys in class VI to VIII in each education block.

It decided to enhance the minimum assured monthly retaining fee of ‘takniki sahaayak’ from Rs 4,000 to Rs 5,500 with effect from April 1, 2012.

It revised the commission rate for work up to Rs 1 lakh to 2 per cent, for work from Rs 1 lakh to Rs 2 lakh to 1.5 per cent and for work above Rs 2 lakh to 1.25 per cent.

It was also decided to regularise the service of panchayat secretaries on contract after eight years of service, provide annual honorarium of Rs 2,000 to all 3,670 ‘nambardars’, reduce electricity duty for heavy industrial units from 20 per cent to 17 per cent, reduce VAT on sale of goods to non-dealers like Defence and other Central agencies from 13.75 per cent to 5 per cent, open a primary health centre at Sector 4 in New Shimla, exempt new hotels in tribal and remote areas from luxury tax for 10 years and open a police post adjacent to the JP cement plant near Kharsi in Bilaspur district.

It approved the drafts of the Indian Stamp (Himachal Pradesh Amendment) Bill, 2012, the Himachal Pradesh Ceiling on Land Holdings (Amendment) Bill, 2012, and the Himachal Pradesh Taxation (on Certain Goods Carried by Road) Act, 1999, for introduction in the monsoon session.

Shimla, August 8
Giving a complete go-by to recommendations of DP Sood Commission on ‘benami’ land transactions, the state Cabinet today decided to amend the HP Ceiling on Land Holdings Act, 1972, to exempt religious and spiritual organisations from not owning more land than limit permissible under the law.

The issue of granting exemption to religious and charitable organisations was listed as item six in the meeting, chaired by Chief Minister PK Dhumal. Section 4 of the HP Ceiling on Land Holdings Act, 1972, specified the area permissible and no one was allowed to own land above this limit.

With the Cabinet approving the HP Ceiling on Land Holdings (Amendment) Bill, 2012, opposed by the Congress, it was expected to be tabled during the monsoon session, commencing on August 27. The amendment could benefit several religious sects, which had brought prime land at several places.

The move to appease religious and charitable institutions, which had a considerable following, was being viewed as an attempt by the BJP to get the blessings of spiritual gurus, who could bring about a swing of votes, as was seen during the Punjab elections.

The Radha Swami Satsang Beas had requested the state government to exempt religious organisations from not owning more land than the area permissible.

Based on its plea, the Revenue Department had favoured the relaxation in norms. Justifying the request, the department had pleaded that such organisations propagated moral and secular teachings.

The commission had come down heavily on religious institutions, accusing those of grabbing prime land at various towns, especially Shimla and Dharamsala, and rural areas at throwaway prices.

“A new form of ‘zamindari’ is being created in the name of religious institutions. The act of recognising such trusts as agriculturists and allotting those huge chunks of land is not only against the Act, but also results in discrimination in the the applicability of the law to a Himachali and a non-Himachali. The formulation of such a policy is illegal and contrary to the basic principles of the Constitution,” it was noted in the report.

Shimla, August 8
With imports taking a severe hit, the sharp decrease in the value of the rupee is proving a boon for apple-growers in the state. After a slow start, the apple season has picked up over the last few days.

The market has remained on the up and returns are higher than last year’s, when the state had a lean crop with the total production plunging to a meagre 1.36 crore boxes.

A total of 12.90 lakh boxes have been exported so far this season and the number of apple-laden trucks moving out daily has increased from 120 to 440 over the last one week.

Superior varieties like royal delicious are selling at Rs 2,800 per box in the Delhi market, compared to Rs 2,000 per box last year. Spur varieties like gale gala and red chief are being sold at Rs 2,200 per box.

The fall in the value of the rupee is a major factor for the upswing. A dollar was worth Rs 45 last season and its value went up by over 20 per cent to over Rs 55 this season, making imports from China, the US and Chile uneconomical.

The low-priced Chinese apple, in particular, had dented the domestic market over the last five years. The state government had been pleading to the Centre to declare it a special product so that deterrent duties could be imposed to discourage its import.

No such steps are required now as the landed cost of a box of apple from China has increased from Rs 1,300 last season to Rs 2,000 this season and that of Washington apple from Rs 1,700 to Rs 2,500. Prices of imported apple are higher than best-quality domestic apple, which is between Rs 2,500 and Rs 3,000 per box.

Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority Director Prakash Thakur said some parties were negotiating with suppliers abroad to reduce the basic price of apple to make imports economical.

Suppliers from Chile had agreed to the proposal, but it would not make much difference as imports would still be too costly to throw up any serious competition to domestic produce.

Last year, the country imported about 2 lakh tonne of apple, but the story would be different this year, more so because production in China had suffered due to unfavourable weather.

Importers were wary of import from China as it dumped poor-quality apple last year, which was spoilt within days, causing heavy losses. The production was expected to be around 2.50 crore boxes this season and apple-growers had high hopes from the market.

Shimla, August 8
Horticulture Minister Narinder Bragta has inaugurated a modern computerised apple packing and grading house and a controlled atmosphere store at Gumma in Kotkhai.

The twin facility has been set up with the help of funds provided by the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority at a cost of Rs 6.8 crore.

The computerised packing house will grade apple on the basis of size and colour and it has a capcity of 4 lakh boxes. The HPMC will charge Rs 140 per box for packaging and grading, which will include packaging material.

The controlled atmosphere store has a capacity 35,000 boxes and the charges will be Rs 1.50 per kg per month. The fruit can be stored for almost a year without loss of quality.

A refrigerated van has been provided for transportation to the market. According to Bragta, a Rs-85-crore project to rejuvenate old orchards by planting new rootstock is being implemented so that the yield is increased.

Solan, August 8
Rains have damaged various roads and bridges worth several crores of rupees in Solan and Sirmaur districts.

Though several link roads and state highways have suffered damage, the extent of damage on national highways is estimated to be much less.

DK Nayyer, Superintending Engineer (SE), PWD, Solan, said losses worth Rs 3.5 crore had been assessed from all over the district with major damage having occurred in Arki and Kasauli sub-divisions, while roads in Nalagarh and Solan sub-divisions had shown lesser damage comparatively.

“Similarly in Sirmaur district, Shillai and Sangarah areas have suffered maximum damage with a large number of link roads having suffered landslides. Damage has been less in Paonta Sahib sub-division,” SE Anil Sharma said.

He added that they had assessed the losses at around Rs 80 lakh till now and the information had been sent to the Deputy Commissioner.

The Haripur-Band road is in a pitiable condition as in the absence of any side drains the road is reduced to a puddle. Since the road is usually used by truckers who carry goods from the Baddi industrial area, its condition continues to worsen with each passing day.

Several roads in Sirmaur district like Paonta Sahib-Shillai-Ronhat, Haripur-Rajgarh and Nahan-Sarahan roads are facing problems as landslides have been disrupting traffic on these routes every now and then. Even today, the Nahan-Sarahan road remained closed for several hours due to landslides.

Several roads in Arki sub-division, including Chyor Khadd to Sheelghat, Piplughat-Sehrol Bhumti road, Darlaghat-Kanswala road, Parnu-Bagher road and Bagha-Kandher road were among the worst affected due to the landslides.

Kamand (Mandi), August 8
This sleepy lush green hamlet along the Uhal has been transformed into a virtual green hi-tech global village. The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) at Mandi is set to start its first batch of students by mid-August on its new campus here.

It will shift its entire campus from Mandi next August, making it the first among newer eight IITs to accomplish this feat in three years.

The new campus of the IIT at Mandi, to be built at a cost of Rs 700 crore, is different from older IITs in metros and cities across the country.

The director’s residence and office, optical fibre connectivity, video-conferencing classroom facility and mechanical and computer laboratories worth Rs 15 crore have already been set up on its south campus, that sprawls across 80 acres.

Before hostels are ready in two months, bamboo huts have been set up here to accommodate 120 second-year BTech students here.

IIT Director Timothy A Gonsalves has shifted here with his American wife, Dr Presila Gonsalves, and is monitoring the construction.

“It will be a self-sufficient green tech campus, using solar and wind energy to make it look like another slope-roofed Himalayan hamlet, in sync with nature. We will shift the whole campus here next August,” he says.

He interacts with his four PhD students, who have also shifted here, and monitors a team of CPWD engineers, contractor and labourers engaged in construction.

“Pre-engineered lightweight fly ash aerated autoclaved cement blocks and steel frames are used to construct 11 three-storeyed buildings, three faculty houses, a ring-shaped dining hall and four Y-shaped hostels, three for boys and one for girls,” he says.

The hostels, with a floor each, have a terrace and are designed to encourage interaction among students, rather than confining them to their rooms. This double-walled architecture is designed by the Builder, Designers, Partnerships (BDP), an Indo-UK group.

“We leave 10 mm between the two layers, that facilitates insulation and makes it cool in summer and warm in winter. No building will exceed three storeys,” says Gonsalves.

“The ‘kalzip’ sheet roof is shiny silver grey. It reflects sun rays in summer and facilitates insulation. It keeps the ring-shaped dining hall comfortable in all seasons. We are using other insulated sheets at other roofs,” he says.

The material costs 1.5 times more than concrete, but it saves time, energy and labour cost, says Rajan Kapur, CPWD in charge overseeing construction.

“The foundation for buildings takes more time. We raise a building in three months’ time with pre-engineered material,” he says.

Cricket, basketball and volleyball fields are coming up on the south campus this year. The campus will have an on-campus school, bank and 15-bedded hospital. The main north campus sprawls across 1,200 acres upstream.

“It has an academic block, director’s main residence, faculty and post-doctoral houses, shopping square, research development park for industries and auditorium,” say engineers.

“The master plan has been cleared by the town and country planning department. We expect it to be ready by 2015,” they further say. Nothing will go waste into the Uhal.

“Sewerage water will be recycled for campus upkeep. Solar and wind energy will be used to save power. The campus will be enough to sustain about 6,500 students and faculty during its peak by 2030,” says Gonsalves.

Shimla, August 8
The arrest of a revenue official accused of exploiting a widow for releasing a house building grant for the Scheduled Caste (SC) category has brought to light several other cases of sexual exploitation, especially at the hands of superiors.

The Vigilance Bureau arrested Rama Nand Bansal, tehsil welfare officer, Theog, for allegedly exploiting a widow for approving her house building grant, yesterday.

The Vigilance Bureau had been keeping a watch on his activities as there were complaints of cash and sexual exploitation against him.

“We arrested the revenue official along with the woman from his residence last night after we got a tip-off,” said KC Sadyal, Additional Director-General of Police, Law and Order and Vigilance.

He added that the woman had applied for getting a house construction grant of Rs 48,500 and the revenue officer asked her to visit him at his house to get the money released.

“There may be similar cases of exploitation of women by higher-ups or colleagues in offices and the Vigilance Bureau is keen to take action against such people,” Sadyal said.

Appealing to such a vulnerable section, he said errant officials would be dealt with in a strict manner.

He said the bureau had been keeping close surveillance on the activities of the officer for weeks.

“There were complaints that he was seeking cash and sexual gratification from helpless women from the weaker sections,” he said.

The official and the woman were arrested and a case registered against them under Section 7 of the Prevention of Corruption Act.

Solan, August 8
The Northern Railway authorities were forced to withdraw the rail car after its wheels wore off following several decades of continuous journey on the UNESCO World Heritage Kalka-Shimla track.

Introduced by the British between 1927 and 1930, it was the last rail car running on this track as three others had been discontinued following similar problems.

Rail cars, which looked like buses, were preferred by tourists for the almost non-stop journey, with a 10-minute halt at Barog. Other trains, with several halts, were initially used by upper-class travellers.

A rail car ticket was priced at Rs 247. The 4-hour-20-minute journey provided travellers a panoramic view of the Shivalik mountain ranges.

With virtually no manufacturer supplying spares of old machines, it had become an arduous task for the Railways to maintain and continue running heritage vehicles of the British era.

Though efforts to introduce cast wheels had been made earlier, the idea could not materialise as there was no manufacturer. Officials were hopeful of restarting the rail car after repairs as trial runs were under way.

Authorities had been battling scarcity of funds for maintenance of the track.

Though 10 trains were being run a day, the track had failed to yield any profit with minimal fare and limited passengers.

The railway authorities were yet to initiate construction of the Kandaghat railway station, burnt down in June last year. The 2-foot-6-inch narrow gauge was never expanded.

The track had 107 tunnels originally. In 1930, those were renumbered and four discarded. In 2006, tunnel 46 was dismantled, leaving the track with 102 tunnels.

Hamirpur, August 8
An indication by Chief Minister PK Dhumal to contest elections from Hamirpur has disheartened sitting MLA Urmil Thakur, but she has opted to work in the constituency.

Talking to The Tribune, she said, “What can I say if the Chief Minister wants to contest from this constituency? I will continue to work in the constituency as I have been concentrating here for years.”

She had been in a dilemma for quite some time as there was speculation about Dhumal’s choice of constituency. Dhumal’s statement at a press conference on Tuesday, in her presence, put her in an awkward position as she had been pressing her claim to stick to the constituency and not shift to the newly created Sujanpur constituency.

She said, “I had contested three elections from Hamirpur and worked here for over 25 years. After delimitation, 49 of the 90 polling booths are intact and about 60 per cent of the area remains within this constituency.”

Asked about contesting from Sujanpur, she said, “If I opt for Sujanpur, I will be termed an outsider. I have been nursing this constituency for this term.”

Shimla, August 8
The Himachal Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation (HPTDC) has resumed its bus service to Kullu, Manali and Leh following the restoration of the national highway, damaged due to flash floods.

HPTDC Managing Director Lokender Chauhan said their marketing offices and tourist information centres were receiving telephone calls and e-mails regarding road conditions in the Kullu-Manali region and the availability of its bus service.

He said no damage had been caused to the Kullu-Manali highway due to flash floods and a cloudburst, but the Manali-Leh highway was damaged near Palchan, but not to the extent of preventing uninterrupted travel.

Normalcy had been restored and tourists familiar with the area were visiting it, he added. Tourists who had booked accommodation at HPTDC hotels and tickets in its Volvo and deluxe buses were free to visit the Kullu-Manali-Leh-Keylong circuit, he further said.

He said the monsoon was the best season to visit the hill state and the HPTDC offered a 25 per cent discount from July 1 to September 15 at its hotels in Kullu, Manali, Naggar and Keylong.

Dharamsala, August 8
NSUI and ABVP activists clashed outside the Government College here for the second day consecutive today. The groups attacked each other with hockey sticks and blunt weapons. No one was injured seriously.

Both groups were fighting to woo new students. They were accusing each other of bringing outsiders to the campus. Though the Himachal Pradesh University had decided to ban student poll in colleges, it hardly had an impact.

Bilaspur, August 8
Led by Bhartiya Janata Kisan Morcha national vice-president Suresh Chandel, a large number of morcha leaders drawn from all parts of the district took out a demonstration from the Circuit House to the Deputy Commissioner’s office here today. They stressed on the demands of peasantry.

Addressing their rally, Chandel said the government should help them by making farming a profitable profession.

He said the vagaries of the weather and uncertain monsoon rains had added to the misery of the farmers, while withdrawal of subsidy by the government on fertilizers and very high prices of this essential inputs had added insult to injury. High interest rates of agricultural loans and strict return conditions imposed by banks and fixing of low prices of farm produce by the Central Price Fixation Committee were also a discouraging factor.

He said not only subsidy on fertilizers be restored and states be provided entire required quantity of fertilizers in time, but also national project mooted earlier by the BJP central government led by Atal Bihari Vajpayee for linking rivers to end draught and floods be implemented at the earliest as had already been ordered by the Supreme Court.

Demonstrators presented a memorandum of demands to him for being forwar-ded to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

Present on occasion were state morcha general secretary Subhash Sharma, district BJP president Baba Ranjit Singh Thakur, district morcha president Ran Singh Thakur and BJP district secretary Bhim Singh Chandel.

Palampur, August 8
Hundreds of families identified as below poverty line (BPL) by the state government under the Integrated Rural Development Programme (IRDP) in April 2011 are yet to get the benefit of health insurance cover as the state government has failed to issue necessary directions to officials concerned in this regard.

Information gathered by this reporter revealed that files pertaining to the BPL families identified in April 2011 were still awaiting clearance of the state government for the grant of health cover. On the other hand, despite the availability of funds, the BPL families were forced to pay medical treatment expenses from their own pockets because of official bottlenecks.

A number of Opposition as well as the ruling party MLAs from Kangra district said they had time and again asked the state government to issue necessary directions to chief medical officers in this regard so that BPL families could get free treatment and medicines in the state hospitals. However, in the past one-and-a-half years neither BPL health cards were issued to them nor medical treatment expenses were reimbursed by the government, they added.

The MLAs said Assembly elections were round the corner in the state and BPL families had approached them time and again, but they were helpless and could not commit when health insurance cover would be granted to them.

If the model code of conduct was made applicable in the state, the matter would be delayed further, hitting poorest of the poor, they said.

Meanwhile, Thakur Kaul Singh, senior Congress leader and PCC president, said not only files pertaining to the BPL health insurance notification, but also a dozen other files pertaining to public welfare schemes were to be cleared by the officials concerned.

He alleged that neither Chief Minister PK Dhumal nor his Cabinet colleagues were interested in the welfare of the poor who had become worse victims of the BJP regime. He said this was a perfect example of “poor” governance of the BJP in the state.

He said it was a serious lapse on the part of the state government, adding that he would raise this issue in the coming Assembly session.

Kangra, August 8
Teachers in the district are up in arms against an attempt to close Government Primary School, New Kangra, in Mandir Mohalla, as a few agencies have been demanding to construct a satsang bhawan on the school land located in the vicinity of the Bajjreshwari temple.

Kamal Jeet, president of the Government Primary Teachers Federation, Kangra block, said today that some vested interests were planning to get the school closed and get a satsang bhawan constructed on the prime school land.

He said the school was functioning since 1928 and presently more than 70 students were studying here, adding that more than 90 per cent of the students were from poor families, mostly living below poverty line. He said the Bajjreshwari Temple Trust had a lot of land and could construct a bhawan anywhere without jeopardising the future of the children.

He said the state government under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan had granted Rs 6 lakh for the construction of two rooms for the school in view of the number of students studying there.

Kamal Jeet said the managing committee of the school, parents and teachers would meet in the school tomorrow to discuss the issue.

However, temple official Pawan Patial said the temple trust was in need of a langar bhawan, but had not passed any resolution to this effect so far.

The people said land was available at the Tehsil Chowk and a satsang bhawan could be constructed in the Bachat Bhawan Complex for which the foundation stone was laid in 1992 by former Chief Minister Shanta Kumar.

Dalhousie, August 8
A five-day National Youth Leadership Camp has been organised at Dalhousie under the aegis of Guru Nanak Dev University (GNDU), Amritsar, which was sponsored by the Association of Indian Universities, New Delhi.

Prof Ajaib Singh Brar, Vice-Chancellor, GNDU, inaugurated the camp. In his keynote address, the Vice-Chancellor shared his experiences with the students and urged them to inculcate the virtues of sincerity and hard work.

Dr Jagjit Kaur, director, Youth Welfare, GNDU, explained about the activities of the camp, which included cultural exchange, national integration, environment and various social problems being faced by the people of the state. As many as 70 students from 12 universities of other states are participating in the camp.

Dharamsala, August 8
Tibetan Prime Minister-in-exile Lobsang Sangay completed one year in office today. He had taken over the mantle as head of the Tibetan community-in-exile from the Dalai Lama.

The first fallout of Sangay taking over was that the government-in-exile lost the power it used to drive from the office of the Dalai Lama.

Though the government-in-exile was not recognised by any government, including India, it used to drive power from the office of the Dalai Lama.

The parliament-in-exile had passed a resolution and the name of the government-in-exile was changed to the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA). Instead of being the head of the government-in-exile, this Harvard graduate became the CTA head.

Termed extremist by the Chinese authorities after he took over, Sangay had the task of taking forward the Tibet movement following the middle path advocated by the Dalai Lama and fulfilling aspirations of young Tibetans who wanted a more aggressive approach.

The Dalai Lama had sought autonomy for Tibet. In an open letter on the eve of completing one year in office, Sangay wrote that he tried to keep the spotlight on Tibet by travelling to various countries and meeting officials.

Due to these efforts, resolutions supporting Tibet and Tibetans were passed in the US Senate and the European Parliament and around 100 Japanese parliamentarians issued a public appeal supporting Tibet, he added.

To make the CTA and its thousand-plus civil servants a professional organisation and workforce, he took steps to integrate the use of technology, streamline transfer policies and identify ways to match staff ability with positions better, Sangay wrote.

He had stressed on improving education in the exiled community. He also claimed to have secured $2-million grant for improving education in the community here. In the recent past, he took over Tibetan schools earlier functioning under the Union Ministry of Human Resource Development.

He also claimed credit for extension to the validity of registration certificates for Tibetans in India. Tibetans in India for the last more than 20 years would have to get their certificates extended once in five years.