Shimla, June 23
Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh has drawn the attention of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi to the devastation caused by the rains and snow in Himachal Pradesh and sought prompt assistance.

In his letters to the PM and the AICC chief, the Chief Minister has sought immediate assistance of Rs 1,000 crore and requested for at least three more Indian Air Force (IAF) helicopters to speed up the rescue operations in Kinnaur.

Virbhadra also wants the Director General of the Border Roads Organisation to monitor the restoration of the main highway passing through Kinnaur and Lahaul-Spiti. An officer of the rank of a chief engineer or superintending engineer must be sent to the affected area to oversee the restoration work, said the Chief Minister in his letter.

A five-page status note appended to the letter puts the cumulative loss due to the damage caused by the rains in the state at Rs 2,575 crore. Virbhadra pointed out that the state machinery was not in a position to cope up with the situation and the Centre should extend prompt assistance, particularly for airlifting the stranded tourists as only 800 persons had been evacuated so far. A large number of persons were awaiting evacuation and helicopter services were also needed to maintain the supply of essential items, including food, medicines and fuel in the areas cut off due to landslides.

The total death toll has been put at 24. While 20 persons have been killed in Kinnaur, two each have died in Shimla and Sirmour district. Over 10,000 cattle heads have perished. As many as 2,120 roads have been damaged and 525 water supply schemes, 280 irrigation schemes, five sewerage schemes and 30 flood-protection works have suffered extensive damage.

The maximum loss of over Rs 1,000 crore had been on account of the damage to roads, followed by Rs 500-crore loss to power infrastructure and Rs 400-crore loss to horticulture sector. The irrigation and agriculture sector and animal husbandry and fisheries departments have also taken a major hit.

The Chief Minister has also informed the Centre about the steps taken by the state government to help the victims.

Dharamsala, June 23
The catastrophe in Uttarakhand has hit tourism in Himachal. Inquiries from tour operators in the area reveal that many tourists have cancelled their booking following the coverage of widespread destruction in the hills of Uttarakhand due to the rains.

The tour operators and hoteliers here said the destruction in Uttarakhand had cast apprehensions among tourists, especially those coming from far-off states like Gujarat, Maharashtra and southern states, that they also might get trapped in case they travelled to the hills.

Dinesh, hotelier from Dharamsala, said the tourists who had booked rooms were making repeated inquiries regarding the weather and road conditions. "We assure them that everything is alright in this part of Himachal and the condition of roads is very good. Despite that many tourists are cancelling their bookings," he said.

"We are now depending on week-end tourists from adjoining Punjab for business," he said.

In Himachal only Kinnaur district and a few other tribal areas have been hit due to the heavy rains in June.

The Dharamsala region was already facing recession since last year. The tourism industry in Dharamsala was hit hard due to the cancellation of Dalai Lama's teachings in the area last year. The teachings were shifted to other parts of the country last year due to lack of air connectivity. After the Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) grounded the under-debt Kingfisher airlines, the air connectivity to the region remained suspended for about eight months. It was only after the concerted efforts of the Himachal government that the Spice Jet airlines started air service to Dharamsala this month.

Foreigners who used to stay for at least a fortnight or a month during the Dalai Lama's teachings were the life for tourism of Dharamsala. Besides, other activities as Losar, the Tibetan new year celebrations, also used to attract foreign tourists. However, the said activities have been suspended by the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA) due to the continuous spate of self-immolations in Tibet.

The normalisation of the situation in Jammu and Kashmir has also hit tourism in Dharamsala.

The hoteliers are demanding that the Himachal government promote the fact that most of tourist destinations in the state were not affected by the rains and were safe. Otherwise the brief summer season, that was the prime season for the tourism industry of Himachal, would be adversely affected.

Shimla, June 23
Disillusioned by the “indifferent attitude” of the authorities, Umang Foundation, a charitable trust, has decided to file a public interest litigation (PIL) for the protection of the rights of children with multiple disabilities who have been housed in government orphanages in pitiable conditions.

Ajai Srivastava, Chairman of the foundation, alleged that these children were lodged in orphanages in blatant violation of various laws enacted by the government to safeguard the rights of such children. These orphanages did not have the required facilities to take care of these children. A mentally challenged inmate Krishna, who was also deaf and dumb, died recently at the Special Institute for the Blind and Deaf in Dhalli.

He said the lives of children were at risk as no special care-taker had been provided to them by the government. The children were suffering because provisions of the National Trust, Rehabilitation Council of India and Juvenile Justice Acts were being violated by keeping them in ordinary homes, Srivastava said.

As per information gathered by the foundation, the government destitute home at Tutikandi (Shimla) had four children with multiple disabilities. Another government destitute home at Masli near Rohru had a mentally challenged boy. These destitute homes were run by the Department of Women and Child Welfare, which had no jurisdiction over matters relating to disability, claimed Srivastava. The State Council for Child Welfare, which managed the institute, had not even bothered to provide disability certificates to them, he alleged.

Shimla, June 23
Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh turned 79 today. Unlike in the past, there were no celebrations and he spent the day at his native place Rampur with his family members.

He had declared that he would not celebrate his birthday in view of the natural calamity that had struck Uttarakhand and Kinnaur district, and appealed to his well wishers not come to his residence to greet him. — TNS

Nurpur, June 23
Kangra MP Rajan Sushant has sanctioned Rs 10-lakh aid for flood victims in Uttarakhand. Similarly, an amount of Rs 5 lakh has been okayed for Kinnaur.

Addressing a press conference at the Nurpur Press Club Bhawan here yesterday, Sushant expressed grief over the deaths and appealed to the Prime Minister to provide maximum relief to the victims.

Sushant has been touring Kangra district since June 18 to review the ongoing development works for which he had released money from his MP funds.

The MP had asked the Block Development Office, Nurpur, to submit a detailed report of required funds for the completion of works being executed through his MP funds in the area. He said during his public contact programme in the Minjgrah gram panchayat of Nurpur, he had sanctioned Rs 5 lakh for development activities in the area. A sum of Rs 10 lakh was also granted for the construction of a Suvidha Kendra.

Dharamsala, June 23
The government programme to eradicate anaemia among children in the state has loopholes, which raises doubts about the effectiveness of the scheme. A large number of children across the state are not being covered under the scheme.

Sources here said children studying in private schools in the state were not being covered under the Weekly Iron and Folic Acid Supplementation Programme for Adolescents (WIFS). The scheme was being implemented just in government schools.

The sources said a study was conducted by the Department of Community Medicine at the IGMC, Shimla, in which it was found that 21.24 per cent of adolescent girls in the state were anaemic.

The state government, under the aegis of the Union Ministry for Health, started the WIFS programme that was mainly an anaemia prevention programme for adolescent boys and girls studying in Classes VI to VIII in government schools. Under the programme, prophylactic iron and folic acid was to be given free of cost for 52 weeks every Wednesday.

However, by limiting the scheme to the students studying just in government schools, the Health Department has also limited the scope of the scheme and reduced its effectiveness.

In just Kangra districts there are 419 private schools that cater to about 60,000 students. This is about half of the total estimated number of 1.28 lakh students studying from Classes VI to VIII in Kangra district.

Similarly, across the state private school cater to at least 40 per cent of the total students in Himachal Pradesh.

The sources here said since the scheme was aimed at improving the health index of the students in the state it should not have been limited just to government schools. The students should have been the criteria for adjudicating the number of beneficiaries under the scheme rather than the students studying in government schools.

The civil surgeon Dharamsala, who today listed the benefits of the schemes, when asked as to why students studying in private schools have been left out, said that they have to abide by the directions given by the Union Government. He, however, said that they would send their recommendation to the government that the students in private schools should also be covered under the scheme.

The sources here said the central genesis of the scheme was the basic problem. In many states like Punjab or Chandigarh, only students from affluent families studied in private schools. However, in Himachal, students from many poor families also studied in private schools. Besides, the pre-supposition that the students studying in private schools might not be anaemic might prove to be a wrong notion in Himachal.

In case the students studying in private schools were not covered, the aim to eradicate anaemia among children in Himachal might remain a utopia.

Solan, June 23
Blaming Dr KR Dhiman, former Vice-Chancellor (VC), for suppressing the actual financial condition of the Dr YS Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry, Nauni, the Joint Coordination Committee has said the finances of the university had been mismanaged and dues worth Rs 21 crore on account of various financial liabilities of employees had become pending.

While criticising the former VC for failing to get adequate funds from the state government, the committee said this had landed the university in a deep financial mess and they had been kept in the dark.

The various pending financial liabilities included DA, GPF subscription, death-cum-retirement gratuity for the last 10-12 years, pension contribution from August 2010 onwards.

The committee comprising the Technical and Class IV Employees Union and the Non-Teaching Employees Association, which met here recently under the chairmanship of OP Thakur, submitted a charter of long-pending demands to the university administration.

The major demands raised by the JCC included the release of revised secretariat pay to eligible employees on the analogy of the HP Secretariat and the HPU and immediate payment of gratuity of Rs 10 lakh to employees.

The members met Acting VC Principal Secretary Tarun Shridhar during his visit to the university recently.

Shimla, June 23
Despite the state being vulnerable to cloudbursts, avalanches and earthquakes, Himachal still lacks a state disaster response force (SDRF) which could have come handy in disaster mitigation in Kinnaur.

Even though the issue of constituting an SDRF has been in the pipeline for quite some time, there has not been much headway. The police has written to the Home and Revenue Departments to expedite the matter so that in case of a disaster, there is preparedness and expertise to handle the situation.

The Revenue Department receives Rs 4 crore from the Centre every year for capacity building and mitigation of disasters. Despite the State Disaster Management Authority preparing the Kinnuar District Disaster Management Plan, little has been done on ground to minimise loss of life and destruction through preparedness and capacity building.

“A core group constituted by the police has submitted a detailed proposal for establishing a centre of excellence for imparting training and the financial implications for setting up the SDRF training centre will be about Rs 1 crore,” said B Kamal Kumar, Director General of Police.

It had been proposed to bring the 3rd India Reserve Battalion at Pandoh near Mandi, the venue for infrastructure training for the SDRF. The Chief Minister too had raised the issue at a conference on internal security held on June 5.

Even though the state government had offered to provide land and other assistance, the SDRF is yet to come into being. It had also been suggested to have smaller units of the NDRF at various locations in the state, considering the long distances that had to be covered by road in going from one place to other. The police had suggested the deployment of trained personnel and equipment at various locations like Una, Mandi, Dharamsala and Shimla.

Solan, June 23
Students of the first batch of BTech at the Waknaghat-based Bahra University bagged a package of Rs 10 lakh during campus placements conducted by Pune-based Data 64 here on Thursday.

Vice-Chancellor SK Bansal said students were selected on the basis of a written test, group discussion and interview. The company selected 16 students of electronics and communication, computer science and mechanical engineering. He said the appointments were made for the posts of digital forensic analyst, CSIRTP, management trainee and DEA.

Company vice-president Rahul Mishra said the standards maintained by the university were impressive and Data 64 would come again for MBA placements in October. He said the management trainees would be offered a package of Rs 4.5 lakh. It was for the first time that the company had selected 16 students from any educational institute of the country, he added.

Pradeep Prem, Director of the placement cell of the university, said students were given joining letters on the spot and they were expected to join the company on January 1.

Kangra, June 23
The new batch of 100 MBBS students seeking admission to Dr Rajendra Prasad Government Medical College (DRPGMC) in August this year will have to fill up an online affidavit available on www.antiragging.in and www.amanmovement.org. Besides, steps will be taken to involve students' parents so that the future of new medical students is shaped in the right perspective.

These decisions were taken during an Anti-Ragging Committee (ARC) meeting chaired by Principal Anil Chauhan at the college in Tanda today. During the meeting concern was shown regarding the parents' lukewarm attitude towards their wards after they got admitted here.

One of the members said last year during the first PTA meeting only 14 parents against 200 attended the meeting and the carom was not complete to hold the elections. He said only one parent attended the next PTA meeting.

In view of this scenario, it was decided that students would be asked to keep a log book that would have credit marks for parents' involvement and students' record, which included attendance and academic performance.

The Vivekananda Kendra, a spiritually oriented service mission, would send two yoga experts to hold yoga classes for new MBBS students for a week. Expressing concern over wine and drug addiction among students, DSP, Kangra, Ashok Verma, who was at the meeting, was requested to take action against shopkeepers at the college gate who were indulging in illicit liquor and drug trade. The DSP assured the committee that strict action would be taken against such unlawful elements.

Shimla, June 23
With the Indian Air Force (IAF) deploying one more helicopter, 150 stranded persons were evacuated from various places in the rain-hit Kinnaur district even though inclement weather hampered rescue operations in the first half of the day.

In another major success, the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) managed to open the 42-km section of the main highway from Wangtu to Reckong Peo, the district headquarters.

The helicopters managed to make eight sorties and 100 persons were airlifted from Sangla, followed by 16 from Nako, mostly foreigners, 15 from Gyabang, six from Reckong Peo and four from Pooh.

The helicopters also dropped kerosene, ration and other supplies at Sangla as it may take more than a week for the road to reopen. The ITBP and NDRF teams also laid a makeshift foot track on the Sangla-Karcham road from where around 50 stranded persons were evacuated.

Vidyakaran, president, Sangla Sustainable Tourism Development Society, said around 200 vehicles were stranded in Sangla. There was a shortage of vegetables, fruits and other necessities, but those stranded were being provided food and other items. The local people managed to rescue two trekkers from Bangalore, three porters and six shepherds from the Rupin Pass.

Deputy Commissioner JM Pathania said the EVMs and other material would reach to all polling booths by tomorrow. With the opening of the Karacham-Reckong Peo section, it will be possible to transport the stranded persons to Rampur, Shimla and other places. It will reduce pressure on helicopters for airlifting people and the helicopters will be able to focus on the areas which are cut off.

Shimla, June 23
The Social Welfare and Reforms Council of India, an NGO, will build pressure on the government and political parties for passing the Women’s Reservation Bill in an amended form in the monsoon session of Parliament.

Chairman of the council Rajeshwar Negi said it was the last opportunity to pass the Bill as the General Election could be held anytime after the session. The council would submit memorandums to UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and leaders of other political parties and impress upon them to pass the Bill as it was a social reform in the real sense.

Reservation would lead to real empowerment of women and there would be no need to enact a plethora of laws to protect them, he said.

Negi said women already had about 11 per cent representation in the two Houses and as such, it would be reasonable to reserve 20 per cent seats for them rather than insisting on 33 per cent and delaying the passing of the Bill.

He said reservation should also be extended to the Rajya Sabha and not restricted to the Lok Sabha alone as was proposed. The Election Commission should be made the designated authority for the selection of seats to be reserved for women.

He said India was considered to be a developed country when compared to countries like Pakistan, but it was far behind in giving representation to women in the polity and ranked 110th in the world. Pakistan had 37 per cent representation, Nepal 33.2 per cent, Afghanistan 27.5 per cent and Iraq 25.2 per cent. 

Dharamsala, June 23
The stevia-based sweetener, developed by scientists of the Institute of Himalayan Bio-resource Technology (IHBT), a CSIR centre at Palampur, is still waiting to be accepted as a natural sweetener by the Government of India.

Sources at the IHBT said the government had accepted steviol glycoside as an artificial sweetener and food supplement. However, the scientists at the IHBT had again urged the government to accept it as a natural sweetener as the product was derived from natural sources.

Once the government accepted the sweetener as natural, the scientists felt that its demand in the market would increase. This could promote commercial cropping of stevia.

The sources here also said though the Food and Drug Authority in the US had since long accepted the stevia-based sweetener as a food supplement, the government had accepted this as an artificial sweetener.

PS Ahuja, Director, IHBT, said scientists of the institute had improved the product. The purity of the product had been increased to an extent that now glycoside content in it was 90 per cent.

The sugar produced from stevia plants is said to be 300 times sweeter than the sugar produced from sugarcane. However, the sugar produced from stevia has very low calories as compared to the sugar produced from sugarcane.

Scientists have already demonstrated that stevia-based sweetener can be used for producing sweets and bakery products. They claim that keeping in view the increasing number of diabetes patients in India, the increased use of the sweetener will improve the health index in the country.

The sources, however, said the government might not accept it as natural food supplement and promote it because the government is under pressure from the sugar lobby. The sweetener might pose a serious challenge to sugar.