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Regulatory panel orders refund of fees to students
Investors hope Budget will help expand rail network
Encroachments cause frequent traffic jams in Dharamsala
Encroachments on the Baghsunag road in McLeodganj. Photo: Kamaljeet |
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Attaching Zonal Hospital to ESIC college
ICAR team visits Palampur agricultural university
Assn extends support to martyr Kalia’s family
27 medical officers deputed for NRHM projects
A woman being examined by a doctor under the NRHM programme.
Campaign to check stray animal menace
Restore air services, Shanta urges Union Minister
Pt Ravi Shankar was India’s cultural ambassador: CM
Docs’ assn lodge complaint against fraud
A PWD worker clears a snow-covered road at Kufri near Shimla on Wednesday. Photo: Amit Kanwar
Centre interested in foreign companies: CM
Workshop on moral values for schoolchildren held
Students of Noorpur Public Senior Secondary School being administered an oath
for their commitment to character-building in Nurpur on Wednesday. Photo: Rajiv Mahajan
Hindi novel released
Seminar on culture of India, Oz begins
Forgery case lodged against ATM card thief
Tourist couple hurt as taxi falls into nullah Man held with 1.5 kg charas 87-year-old man falls into tank, dies
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Regulatory panel orders refund of fees to students
Shimla, December 12 Exercising its power under Section 9(3) of the Himachal Pradesh Private Educational Institutions (Regulatory Commission) Act to redress the grievances of students and parents, the commission has ordered a refund of Rs 1,24,400 in five cases. Fee refund was ordered in cases where students had opted not to join the institution after getting admission or had left midway during the academic session. The institutions included two private universities, an engineering and management institute and a polytechnic. One of the private universities was asked to refund Rs 40,000 to Robin Malik, a student from Chandigarh, and Rs 29,000 to PD Ajaye of Jaisinghpur. A polytechnic was ordered to return Rs 37,400 to Sapan Nepta, which included advance fees charged from the student who decided to leave the course midway due to lack of facilities. Besides, two more similar complaints were under process. As students are vulnerable to harassment by the management, the commission has decided to act on anonymous complaints or those filed by parents, whose identity will be kept confidential. Besides providing relief to students and parents, the grievance redressal mechanism will also serve as a tool for authentic feedback and enable it to devise ways for effective monitoring of private institutions. The commission has received over 30 complaints in all of which a majority pertained to grievances of faculty members. Teachers mostly complained of abrupt and illegal termination of services, non-payment, short-payment of delayed salaries and harassment by management. In a recent complaint, two women lecturers of a Mandi-based private institute, who were engaged for teaching MBA classes, complained of mental harassment and torture and for exploitation of their services for marketing by the management. The commission has issued notice to the chairman of the institute. While five cases have been disposed of, 15 others were under process. Besides lack of adequate faculty, frequent change of teachers is also affecting the quality of teaching. However, the commission is not proving effective in addressing the issue. There are large-scale malpractices in appointments and payment of salaries, but the commission has not been able to rein in erring institutions, particularly regarding financial matters, including payment of salaries. |
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Investors hope Budget will help expand rail network
Solan, December 12 It will be constructed in a phased manner and its section length has been estimated to be 216.084 km. It will cover four states that include 14.910 hectares of the Punjab area, 358.540 hectares in Himachal Pradesh, 474.170 hectares in Haryana and 208.080 hectares in Uttarakhand. As many as four trains, including two inter-city and two express trains, are proposed to run over it as per the survey report. It is supposed to earn Rs 33,145.72 lakh per year and its working expenses are to the tune of Rs 21,818.11 lakh per year. The quantum of passengers per day has been estimated to be 4,522 while the projected quantum of good traffic has been projected at 1,67,973 and 83,389, respectively, for outward and inward routes while principal items of good traffic include steel, iron, cement, coal, fly ash and various miscellaneous items. With a speed potential of 100 km per hour, this section will help meet the requirements of the industry and provide an economical mode of transporting goods. While the expansion of railways has been a pressing issue for prime industrial areas of Baddi-Barotiwala-Nalagarh, which accounts for 70 per cent industrial expansion in the state and in the Paonta Sahib and Kala Amb belt, the elevation of Pawan Kumar Bansal as the Railways Minister has given some hope to investors now. Since Bansal’s kin also has an industrial unit in the BBN, this was considered the most opportune time for the expansion of the railways for this industrial hub. The issue of railways expansion has figured several times in the list of surveys for socially useful projects, but apart from surveys nothing has been done in this direction by the successive governments. The absence of railways has stalled the ambitious Central project of constructing a full-fledged container depot and been confined to a mere freight station having limited facilities. The presence of railways will also help provide the industries a cheaper mode of transportation and respite to the industry from the ever-increasing freight charges levied by truck unions having a strong presence in the region. |
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Encroachments cause frequent traffic jams in Dharamsala
Dharamsala, December 12 Encroachment on roads is the main reason for the same. At
McLeodganj, the biggest bottleneck is the Bhagsunag road. Its width has been reduced at certain places due to encroachments along the road. Even two vehicles cannot cross comfortably on this road resulting in frequent traffic jams. People have to remain stranded for long durations. Local sources said most of the encroachments on the McLeodganj-Bhagsunag road had been raised on the reserve forest land. The Forest Department had initiated proceedings in over 100 cases of encroachments on the reserve forest land in the area. However, the authorities have acted only on paper. No concrete action has been taken to remove the same. In fact, the encroachments on the forest land in the area have been increasing as more constructions are coming on it every year. Police officials mulled over the idea of installing traffic lights on the McLeodganj-Baghsunag road. However, SP, Kangra, Diljeet Singh Thakur said the idea did not seem to be feasible. Since there was little space available at the main crossing of
McLeodganj, the traffic lights would add to the chaos in the area. The SP said the only solution to the issue at McLeodganj lies in linking the area with another road through
Indrunag. In lower Dharamsala, the Kotwali bazaar, the main market of the area, is the biggest traffic bottleneck. Here also encroachments by shopkeepers have reduced the width of the road. Apart from this, illegally parked vehicles on the road often lead to traffic jams. Traffic jams in the evening are almost a routine affair when the tourist buses that leave for Delhi from McLeodganj cross the market. The PWD had started the work for the construction of the Kotwali bazaar bypass. However, the work has been lingering since long. PWD officials claim that the work of just a few culverts on the bypass was pending. The authorities also feel that the bypass could redress the traffic issue of lower Dharamsala, especially the Kotwali bazaar. However, no urgency was being shown by the authorities concerned to complete the construction of the bypass. With new vehicles being added on roads almost daily and no provisions being made for constructing additional parking space, the traffic issues of Dharamsala are likely to get more acute in the coming days. |
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Attaching Zonal Hospital to ESIC college Kuldeep Chauhan Tribune News Service
Mandi, December 12 The state had given its nod to attach the hospital to the college and awaits the response from the ministries. But the final decision might not mature till the formation of the next government in the state on December 31, sources said. The 500-bedded ESIC Medical College and the Mandi hospital could not apply for the same to the Medical Council of India (MCI) this year as the ESIC hospital was not ready. It is mandatory for the medical college to have its own hospital to run the college as per the new MCI guidelines. Himachal seemed to have missed the bus as the Central Government had given its permission to the ESIC’s new medical college at Gulbarga in Karnataka after the Karnataka Government issued the essentiality certificate to the ESIC to attach its hospital to its medical college. Now the MCI had slated its inspection of college in 2013, said officials. On the other hand, the state did not show much interest initially to attach Zonal Hospital to the ESIC college on the ground that “the MCI has to first amend its guidelines or give a special permission to attach the hospital”. Since the ESIC and the zonal hospital were government organisations, the MCI had no issue in permitting the ESIC to run its first batch from the next year, said ESIC officials. But we have missed the bus as the MCI date for applying for the new medical college was over, said an ESIC official. Principal Secretary, Health, Ali Raza Rizvi said the state government was ready to attach the zonal hospital to the ESIC and had conveyed it to the ministry. “Now the ESIC and the Centre have to expedite the matter and send back their proposal,” he added. Dean, ESIC Medical College, Dr DS Dhiman, said they had sent the proposal to the state for attaching the zonal hospital to the college till the ESIC’s own hospital was not ready, but they had not received any communication so far. He said the state had to issue the essentiality certificate giving in writing that they were ready to attach the zonal hospital to the college. “We have no essentiality certificate to apply for the MCI permission to start the college in 2013,” he added.
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ICAR team visits Palampur agricultural university
Dharamsala, December 12 It visited all departments in the four constituent colleges and other facilities for students and staff like library, museum, sports complex, hostels, health centre and also interacted with staff and students at the university. Nawab Ali advised the university to fulfil the vacant positions of the faculty to meet the standards of statutory bodies and also to accelerate the development work. He also advised the university authorities to improve the quality traits in varieties of food crops and adopt certain villages for quick transfer of technology. He also spoke on the importance of nutritional security of people, especially women and children, and asked the university to spread a word about it in villages. He asked the university to explore the possibility of imparting education to students of Asian and African countries as the Centre was encouraging students from these countries to pursue higher education in India. He also sought the opinion of the Vice-Chancellor to provide part-time employment to such Indian scholars who complete their studies in top foreign universities and were willing to return to their homeland if provided jobs. Bisht advised the university to hold its convocations at regular intervals, utilise all fellow land for productive purposes to enhance domestic income and establish the Vice-Chancellor’s relief fund to meet staff and students’ emergencies. He said there was a need to adopt the ICAR model Act and traverse new height to attain a formidable position in the country. SK Mann and Dharmeswar Das also gave some suggestions like adding more facilities in undergraduate labs, waving fee of university staff in the constituent colleges if they join on a merit basis, popularising organic tea and other organic products. SK Sharma, Vice-Chancellor, informed the team members that his ISO-certified university had been able to raise the socio-economic status of the farming community of the state by providing relevant technology from time to time. The university was also producing quality manpower and have left a mark in the recent past with its certified organic tea, area-specific mineral mixture for livestock and was supplying plant material as far as to Northeast, developed gender-friendly tools and have its own “palam” trade mark to sell farm produce.
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Assn extends support to martyr Kalia’s family
Mandi, December 12 In a communication to The Tribune here, the president of association, Capt Jagdish C Verma, said it was unfortunate that the martyr’s family couldnot get justice even after such a long time. The Centre failed to take up the matter to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to bring the alleged Pakistani violators of the Geneva Conference to justice. As a result, the family had to file a special leave petition in the Supreme Court to get justice. “It is disheartening to hear that the Centre has also opposed such a move in yet another case of the Prisoner of War (POW) of the 1971 Indo-Pak war,” he charged. Verma said the Geneva Conference was held after the World War II in which the participating countries agreed that if soldiers were captured by way of laying down or were held in prison, they shouldn’t be subject to any inhumane treatment and torture. “The execution should not be carried out in captivity and in the Article II of the conference deals in regards to the POW of the other countries,” he added. The association said Nazis were trialed in the International Court of Justice and the violators were held accountable and were punished as per the law. The Pakistan soldiers had violated the Geneva convention norms by burning Kalia’s body with cigarettes butts, gouging out his eyes, chopping off his ears and private organs and breaking his teeth and bones. “Capt Kalia and six others were tortured and killed in brutal manner but the government didn’t think it an appropriate case to take up with the ICJ,” the association lamented and extended all possible help to Dr Kalia’s family. |
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27 medical officers deputed for NRHM projects
Palampur, December 12 A senior officer of State Health Department said here today, “As many as 27 medical officers are deputed in 12 districts of the state for the speedy execution of the NRHM projects.” He said three medical officers each would assist the Health Department in the NRHM projects in Kangra, Shimla and Mandi districts. He said the monitoring teams has been advised to execute all the projects as per norms laid down by the Union Health Ministry and make efforts for the best utilisation of funds. He said the Central Government had lauded the efforts of the state in the proper utilisation of the NRHM funds in the previous years. “As compared to other states, the performance of Himachal Pradesh was much better, therefore the Union Government wanted to expand the NRHM programme in the tribal and rural areas of the state,” he said. He said much stress
was being laid on the control of tuberculosis, blindness, leprosy, child-mother health care, integrated disease control and family planning. He appealed the officials of the department to work sincerely for the timely completion of all project launched under the NRHM. |
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Campaign to check stray animal menace
Hamirpur, December 12 This practice is more common in case of domestic cows as they are released by their owners in the wilderness after their capacity to give milk diminishes. Residents in the past also had been demanding to check the menace. Under this campaign, the Animal Health Department is tattooing domestic cattle, behind its ear, in every household through a special punching equipment. After tattooing, a specific code would be marked on the cattle through which these would be identified. The code would bear information regarding owners of cattle, name of the village and panchayat through which the animals would be identified. Stray animal causing harm to people or damaging crops by venturing into fields can now be caught and their owners would be easily identified. Gram panchayats would also maintain a register having the details regarding cattle and identification of owners and have been authorised to impose fine on owners of stray animals causing damages. The drive, which was launched as a pilot project in Kangra and Hamirpur districts, has now been extended to the entire state. In Hamirpur district, 35,106 cows have been tattooed till now and the drive is in progress. The department is also planning to keep a check on every entry point to stop transportation of stray animal to other places. |
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Restore air services, Shanta urges Union Minister
Palampur, December 12 He told the minister that with the suspension of air services to the state, the tourism industry had adversely been hit and foreign tourists were the worst affected who had cancelled their reservations in hotels of Shimla, Manali and Dharamsala. If flights were not restored early, it would also hit the tourist arrival in summers as travelling agencies were making bookings of foreign tourists for the summer season these days. He said Kingfisher Airlines were operating regularly in all three airports of the state for the past five years as the state had a good tourist flow. There was a decline of 30 per cent in the inflow of tourists to the state due to the absence of air connectivity. Most of the hotels in the state are wearing a deserted look. Travel agents were preferring Kashmir instead of Himachal because of the low air fare and cheaper hotels. However, Chief Secretary S Roy had written to the Aviation Secretary in the previous month for the restoration of air services, till date nothing had been done. |
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Pt Ravi Shankar was India’s cultural ambassador: CM
Shimla, December 12 In a message to the bereaved family, he said Pt Ravi Shankar was a global ambassador of the Indian cultural heritage. A disciple of Baba Allauddin Khan of the Senia Maihar
Gharana, the maestro enjoyed worldwide popularity and was known for his indepth understanding of various styles and schools of music. He said Ravi Shankar had influenced western music and a large number of western musicians had undergone training under him. He had introduced classical music in North America and his contribution in the field of classical music would be remembered by music lovers for a long
time. Dhumal also condoled the death of the first Chief Minister of Uttarakhand Nityanand Swami, who died in a hospital today. He termed his death as a personal loss. He said he had met Nityanand Swami on his recent visit to Dehradun and exchanged views on common problems in hill states. He said Swami had laid the foundation of progress of
Uttarakhand. |
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Docs’ assn lodge complaint against fraud
Kangra, December 12 The doctors’ association said the unidentified person had submitted a complaint before the state Lokayukta against the appointment of an ineligible medical teacher in the hospital. President of the RDA Rahul Gupta had received letters from the secretary, Lokayukta, Himachal Pradesh, and the Director-General Police, Himachal Pradesh, in this regard. He said the RDA had been operational since August this year and had not generated any such complaint before the state Lokayukta. He said the RDA’s correspondence was always done on a paper, which bears the association’s logo as a watermark, and was an exclusive property of the RDA DRPGMC, Tanda. He said the RDA had communicated to the HP Lokayukta that any correspondence without this entity could be turned down on the ground of a forged document. The Kangra police said the complaint was lodged by the RDA and the investigation in this regard has already started. |
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Cold wave continues after snow
Shimla, December 12 The mercury dropped sharply across the region following yesterday’s widespread rain and snow with Keylong and district headquarters town of Lahaul and Spiti recording the lowest temperature of minus 8.5°C. Kalpa, in the tribal Kinnaur, was shivering at minus 5.4°C and the famous tourist destination of Manali recorded a minimum of minus 3°C. Solan froze at 0.5°C. Shimla was also cold with a low of 2.6°C and the maximum temperature of 8.6°C, which was 3.8°C below normal. Dharamsala was relatively comfortable with a minimum temperature of 7.4°C and maximum of 18.2°C. The sky was crystal clear in the morning, but clouds started appearing as the day progressed and it was completely overcast by afternoon. Icy winds added to the discomfort of people, particularly tourists, who thronged nearby resorts of Kufri, Fagu and Narkanda to enjoy snow. |
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Centre interested in foreign companies: CM
Bilaspur, December 12 Dhumal said the Centre had put a severe curb on filling of posts and employment and now it was taking steps to bring the FDI in retail which would further bring unemployment to self-employed small traders and others employed in traditional trade systems. He said the FDI in retail would soon begin to show its real poisonous teeth as soon as it would be implemented affecting the business of millions of small shopkeepers. The Chief Minister ridiculed the Central scheme of cash for subsidy and termed it as conspiracy of the UPA government to ultimately abolish all types of subsidies under pressure of foreign powers. He said the scheme would only add to difficulties of poor people as they would spend Rs 1,200 to get an LPG cylinder before the Centre compensated for the same. Present on the occasion were Deputy Speaker Rikhi Ram
Koundal, MLA Baldev Sharma and local BJP candidate Rajender Garga. |
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Workshop on moral values for schoolchildren held
Nurpur, December 12 Swami
Vighananand, disciple of Ashotosh Maharaj, who is also the founder of the
sansthan, said students always played a vital role in nation building. “A number of demerits like indiscipline, bad character and addiction are generated in youngsters and inculcation of moral values ensure their character-building,” he said. The swami exhorted students to extend due regard to their teachers and parents as they were their real future builders, adding that blessings were never gained, but earned with good qualities and high moral values. He administered a mass oath to the students for their commitment to character-building, inculcation of high moral values and against any type of addiction. |
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Hindi novel released
Shimla, December 12 He congratulated Pathak for the hard work put in by her in writing the novel. He said there was no dearth of talent in Himachal Pradesh and there were several writers who had been contributing significantly to enrich the contemporary literature. In the modern era, a lot of entertainment and educational material was being presented by the electronic channels, but printed literature still had its admirers. He said the printed material provided readers an opportunity to read and enjoy at their own convenience, which was not the case with the electronic media. He said the state government was motivating budding writers to come forward and exhibit their talent. He hoped that the novel would be received well by readers within and outside the state. |
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Seminar on culture of India, Oz begins
Shimla, December 12 Vice-Chancellor ADN Bajpai, while inaugurating the seminar, dwelt on the rich aspects of Indian culture. He said Indian culture was quite different from the Western world, including Australia. “It is our religious institutions and interpersonal relationships that define our
behaviour,” he said. He extended a warm welcome to professors from Australia and urged them to stay here for a longer period so that they could study Indian culture in depth. The guests from Australia included Kirsty Murray, an acclaimed novelist for young readers and current writer-in-residence for the
Centre, Prof Ken Harper, playwright and puppeteer from Melbourne University and Prof Bhim S
Dhaiya, former Vice-Chancellor of Kurukshetra University. — TNS |
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Forgery case lodged against ATM card thief
Nurpur, December 12 DSP Rajinder Jaswal said the accused had reportedly stolen an ATM card, along with its pin number, from the complainant’s bag, which he had left at his shop, and withdrawn Rs 1.30 lakh from his Punjab National Bank account of the Nurpur branch. The complainant came to know about this cheating only when he visited the bank and tried to withdraw money through a withdrawal form. He also took back the ATM card from the accused who admitted that he had drawn this money from his bank account by using the stolen ATM card. Initially he promised to return money, but later he refused and allegedly dared the complainant to lodge an FIR. |
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Encroachments along roads have choked tourist spots near Dharamsala, including McLeodganj and
Baghsunag. Though the tourist season is lean in the winter season, traffic jams are common in the lower Dharamsala and McLeodganj areas at least once a day.
Palampur, December 12
The Divya Jyoti Jagriti Sansthan, Noormahal (Punjab), has conducted a workshop on moral values as a part of its youth empowerment
programme. A special lecture was delivered in the morning assembly of Noorpur Public Senior Secondary School here today.
