Shimla, March 28
Protesting against the refusal of Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh to open eight colleges de-notified by it after the change in government, the BJP today staged a walkout in the Vidhan Sabha.

The protest came immediately after the reply of the Chief Minister to the discussion on cut motions of the BJP members pertaining to the demand for education. Most of the members had referred to the issue while speaking on the cut motion and urged the government to re-notify the colleges. As their demand was not conceded by the Chief Minister, the BJP members expressed dissatisfaction over the reply and wanted an assurance for re-opening of the colleges. As the Chief Minister refused to relent, they staged a walkout.

Virbhadra said the government was not averse to opening new colleges, but only keeping in view the requirement, adding that the exercise would be carried out on the basis of merit. He said the BJP government had notified the colleges on the eve of the Assembly poll and no provision of funds, building, staff and other infrastructure was made. The institutions were opened in the second half of 2012.

The belated exercise was a part of the strategy to accomplish “mission repeat” and the government, depending on the need and availability of finances, would open colleges only after making budgetary provision and identifying land for the purpose. It had earlier made a provision of Rs 5 crore for every college it announced.

The cut motion was put to vote by Speaker BBL Butail after the walkout and the same was rejected by voice vote.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Mukesh Agnihotri condemned the action of the BJP and said there was no justification for staging a walkout after a detailed reply of the Chief Minister.

Later justifying the walkout, former Chief Minister PK Dhumal said the BJP government had always honoured the decisions taken by the previous Congress governments and not only opened the schools and colleges notified by the predecessor government, but also opened Tanda Medical College for which the government had provided a meagre amount of Rs 50 lakh and started a medical college at TB Sanitorium building.

Shimla, March 28
The government will carry out a thorough evaluation to assess the impact of the Central industrial package, particularly the non-implementation of approved projects, to help frame an effective policy to attract investment.

“The government approved projects involving an investment of over Rs 48,000 crore after the grant of the industrial package, but in reality only projects worth Rs 13,500 crore were set up. Projects with proposed investment of Rs 35,000 crore did not come up, which requires to be investigated,” Minister for Industries and Labour Mukesh Agnihotri told the Vidhan Sabha in response to Kuldeep Kumar’s question.

He said during the last five years, 3,835 industrial units were set up and during the same period, 215 closed. The total investment was Rs 428 crore and 18,511 persons got employment. The government had already announced steps like ensuring clearance of projects within three months to help accelerate the pace of industrialisation, he said.

Transport Minister GS Bali told the House that out of a total 2,059 buses in the fleet of the state road transport corporation, 301 buses had completed their fixed mileage and were of zero book value as on February 28, 2013. During the last financial year, 227 buses were allotted to the corporation, he said.

He said it was not possible for the corporation to provide bus service on all the motorable routes. The corporation had formed a scheme to hire buses on wet lease from private parties to meet the shortage. Bids had been invited and the process was on for attachment of various types of buses for which fuel consumption norms and slabs for minimum mileage to be covered per day had been fixed, he said.

Shimla, March 28
The Himachal Pradesh High Court on Tuesday restrained the Sahara group of companies from collecting money from investors.

The court passed this order on a public interest litigation where the petitioner highlighted the irregularities committed by the Sahara Group.

While passing this interim order, a Division Bench comprising acting Chief Justice RB Misra and Justice VK Sharma restrained Sahara group chief Subrata Roy, Sahara Credit Cooperative Society Ltd, Sahara Q Shop Unique Product Range Ltd and Sahara Q Gold Mart Ltd from making transactions with any bank accounts without the prior permission of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI).

The court further directed the enforcement directorate to give response/status on money laundering by the Sahara group as alleged by the petitioner.

The petitioner told the court that recently the Supreme Court had also directed the two companies of this group namely Sahara India Real Estate Corporation Ltd and Sahara Housing Investment Corporation Ltd to refund Rs 24,000 crore to the investors through SEBI.

Palampur, March 28
The state government will give top priority to health services and has decided to modernise the sector so that serious patients are not forced to go out and all medical facilities are available within the state.

This was disclosed by Health Minister Thakur Kaul Singh, while addressing mediapersons, here on Tuesday evening. He said all vacant posts of specialists, super-specialists and para-medical staff in state hospitals and medical colleges would be filled in the next one year.

Singh said the government had also planned to grant additional incentives to doctors, particularly the specialists and super-specialists, to join the state services.

He added that things were the worst in the regime of BJP, when only a few doctors opted for the state health services, because of defective recruitment policy.

During this period, a number of post graduate (PG) doctors left the state services and the government made no efforts to retain them.

He admitted that all was not well in the state health department as over 400 posts of doctors were vacant at present.

He said now the government had changed the recruitment policy of doctors with an intention to fill up all vacant posts. Besides, it had also urged the Medical Council of India (MCI) to enhance the MBBS and PG seats in the two medical colleges of the state at Shimla and Tanda to clear the backlog.

Singh said the state immediately needed medical specialists, gynecologists, radiologists and surgeons.

Besides, posts of super-specialists were also vacant in all streams in the two medical colleges. He had asked the officers of state health department to conduct campus interviews outside the state to fill these posts without any delay. He added that the government had decided to fill up the vacant posts of specialists in the district and sub-divisional hospitals the in first phase. 

Kangra, March 28
Stores, in collaboration with the Food Corporation of India (FCI), will be constructed to store 45,000 metric tonnes (MT) of foodgrain in this hill state. FCI officials had inspected sites for these food storage buildings and submitted a report to the Government of India.

This was stated by Minister for Food Civil Supplies and Public Distribution System GS Bali during public meetings at Sheera Thana, Sarotri and Pathiar yesterday after he attended “MLA at their doorstep” programme. He heard people’s grievances at different places and mitigated their problems on the spot.

Transport Minister Bali said Rs 2.5 crore was sanctioned for the Mallan-Mubariqpur National Highway, besides Rs 3 crore for the maintenance of different roads of Nagrota Bagwan and Rs 55 lakh for the construction of bridge on Duroo Khad on the Kufri Patialkand road. He said at Kheerchamba an information centre and parking place would be constructed at a cost of Rs 40 lakh.

Bali said the Pathiar-Jagloat-Dharamgiri water supply scheme would be constructed at a cost of Rs 1 crore. During the current financial year 25 hand pumps would be set up in areas of the Nagrota Bagwan Assembly constituency.

He also addressed people during the Lidband Mela which was held at Nagrota Bagwan and asked people to help in preservation of the traditional fairs with making these fairs attractive and modernized. He announced Rs 5 lakh grant for the development of the mela ground of the town and Rs 1 lakh for lavatories in the locality.

Shimla, March 28
The inquiry ordered by the Congress into the tea garden land purchase by social activist Prashant Bhushan at Palampur has been completed and submitted to the government.

The Additional District Magistrate, Kangra, who was the inquiry officer, submitted the final report to the government here last week.

Sources said with some alleged violations, including purchase of tea garden land which amounts to change of land use, having been detected during the inquiry, the matter could be placed before the Cabinet.

The matter had been discussed by the Cabinet earlier also, where it was decided that a final decision could be taken only after the completion of the probe. The opinion of the Law Department is also being sought before taking any final decision.

The Kumud Bhushan Education Society had purchased about 4.68 hectares of tea garden land on March 3, 2010, at Kandwari, 10 km from Palampur in Kangra district. Though the sale of the tea garden land is prohibited under law, it was being claimed that since no tea cultivation had been undertaken on this patch for the last 30 years, it did not attract violation of the rules. Bhushan happens to be the secretary of the society.

The permission for purchasing the land was granted during the previous BJP regime for setting up of an educational institution. Though there is a ban on the purchase of land by outsiders in Himachal, it was in relaxation of Section 118 of the Tenancy and Land Reform Act that permission was granted for the purchase of land, originally a tea estate.

With sale of land to people from outside the state being the biggest charge of the Congress against the Dhumal regime, the Virbhadra government had ordered an inquiry into the land deal made by the Patanjali Yogpeeth Trust owned by Ramdev, near Kandaghat, and the land bought by Bhushan at Palampur. The two land deals along with several other purchases had figured prominently in the Congress chargesheet against the BJP regime.

The government has already cancelled the lease of the land bought by Ramdev and now the matter is pending in the High Court. 

Dharamsala, March 28
The Central Tibetan Administration (CTA) will organise a two-day conference to highlight the issue of self-immolations by Tibetans in Tibet.

The spokesperson of the CTA said over 12 Tibetan scholars, writers and journalists from across India and abroad would compare notes at the conference titled, “China’s Repressive Policies and the Crisis of Burning Tibet”. The conference will be hosted by the Tibet Policy Institute of the Central Tibetan Administration.

The Kalon for the Department of Security of the CTA, Ngodup Dongchung, will give the keynote address. Kasur Kirti Rinpoche, the spiritual head of Kirti monasteries, will address the conference as a special guest at the inaugural session of the conference tomorrow.

As many as 70 senior civil servants of the CTA as well as representatives from all the major Tibetan NGOs based in Dharamsala will be attending the conference, which will discuss in depth the major causes and ramifications of the current crisis of self-immolations in Tibet.

"The Tibet Policy Institute has invited Tibetan scholars and writers to brainstorm on how the crisis in Tibet can be resolved so that Tibetans no longer need to resort to the act of self-immolation to press their case of the tragedy unfolding in their land," said Thubten Samphel, director of the Tibet Policy Institute.

The Tibet Policy Institute serves as a think tank of the CTA. It serves as an intellectual hub for Tibetan scholars across the globe and to articulate their views on the issue of Tibet in the hope that these views will shape the perception of the international community and the policies of the governments concerned to Tibet.

There have been 109 self-immolations by Tibetans in Tibet. The CTA has been trying to build up international opinion against China in view of the self-immolations. However, the efforts of the CTA have not yielded much result as most of the countries have “desisted” from taking up the issue at international platforms due to an increasing economic influence of China.

The members of the CTA also lobbied across India to get a resolution regarding self-immolations in Tibet passed in the Indian Parliament. They claimed to have mustered the support of around 20 Indian MPs. However, the lobbying has not yielded any concrete results.

In the conference scheduled tomorrow, the CTA would try to educate journalists from across the country over the issue of Tibet and causes of self- immolations in Tibet.

Kangra, March 28
The Himachal Pradesh Government has decided to develop the ancient Talmata temple as a major centre of attraction for religious tourism. The Tourism Department will formulate a project for this temple.

This was stated by HRTC vice-chairman Kewal Singh Pathania while addressing a public meeting at the Talmata temple area falling in the Dharkandi region of this district. He said this tourism spot would boost the economy of the area, besides generating employment opportunities for youth of the area. He said the Dharkhandi area was bestowed with nature's gift which could attract tourists in large numbers. This tourist spot would be an all-season attraction for tourists, he added.

Pathania said the Congress government led by Virbhadra Singh was eager to develop rural tourism and as a part of it, the tax rebate on hotels in under-developed panchayats for 10 years was a goodwill gesture.

He said from Gherra Bagha village in the Shahpur constituency to Lamdal, a trekking route was being developed under the Rs 11-lakh Dhauladhar Tourism Circuit project.

He said from April 1, science classes would be started in Government Senior Secondary School at Drinee, a remote area of this district. He thanked the Chief Minister for providing Rs 10 lakh for the school playground.

Bilaspur, March 28
A deputation of truck operators of the Bilaspur District Truck Operators Union (BDTS), Barmana, met Additional District Magistrate Pradeep Kumar here on Tuesday and presented him a memorandum demanding the repair of the National Highway No. 21 at the earliest.

The deputation said they had purchased trucks after taking commercial loans from banks on a heavy rate of interest. They said due to the bad condition of the highway, wear and tear of their trucks had increased several fold.

They said this was costing them too much as it was becoming increasingly difficult for them to ply trucks on the road, apart from the ever-increased risk of accidents.

They urged the state government and the district administration to take immediate steps to ensure that the road was repaired soon.

They warned that if their repeated requests continued to be ignored by the government, they would stage a protest against the authorities.

Sujanpur (Hamirpur), March 28
The third cultural evening of the four-day Holi festival at Sujanpur was devoted to playback singer Aishwarya Nigam and Sa Re Ga Ma Pa finalist Nidhi Kohli.

Nigam presented a combination of old and new songs from Hindi movies and sang two numbers from an old hit of yesteryear “Do Raaste”, “Chhup gaye sare nazaare oye kya baat ho gayi…” and “Ye reshmi zulfein, ye sharbati aankhein…”.

Nigam also presented songs devoted to Holi like “Rang barse bheege chunarwali rang barse…”, “Holi khele Raghubira Avadh mein…” and “Khai ke pan Banaras wala…”.

A duet presented by Nigam and Kohli, “Munni badnaam hui…” from “Dabang” was an instant hit with the audience.

In her hour-long performance, Kohli also presented hit songs like “Lambi judaai…” and “Bidi jalai le jigar se piya…”. Anuj Sharma of Indian Idol fame also performed earlier in the evening.

Agriculture and Power Minister Sujan Singh Pathania was the chief guest on the occasion. Addressing the gathering on the occasion, the minister said the state government was making efforts to promote the agriculture sector and urged people to take benefits of various schemes launched by the government. He said there was a vast scope of employment in the agriculture sector.

Earlier, Sujanpur MLA Rajender Rana and Hamirpur DC Ashish Singhmar welcomed the chief guest. 

Nurpur, March 28
Following a court order, the local police today registered a case of forgery against Jagdish Chand of Raja Ka Talab, Taran Singh, a kanungo, and Ram Prakash, a patwari, posted at Harnota patwar circle.

Veena Devi of Raja Ka Talab, in her complaint, has alleged that Jagdish in connivance with the kanungo and the patwari prepared forged documents and sold her land to Jagdish. The accused executed a sale deed and mutation of the land in his favour. She moved an application in the court.

DSP Rajiv Atre registered a criminal case. — OC