Shimla, July 11
The tussle between Food and Civil Supplies Minister GS Bali and his Additional Chief Secretary over re-tendering of levy sugar has cost P Mitra dear with his unceremonious exit from the department today.

Not willing to tolerate a belligerent Secretary who had defied the orders of the minister, Bali today met Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh and ensured that Mitra was shown the door from the Food and Civil Supplies Ministry. Mitra, who had been rewarded with the plum Home Department, had to eat a humble pie even as the Chief Minister could not afford to antagonise Bali again with whom he had bought peace recently.

In a minor administrative reshuffle ordered today, the government gave the Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs Department to Sanjay Murthy. Even though Mitra, who is looking after Home and Vigilance, has been given additional charge of the Cooperation Department, the fact is that the minister got his way by ensuring his exit.

Even though the government, for the time being, has decided to invite fresh tenders as recommended by Mitra, the fact is that he has to pay the price for going against the wishes of his minister. However, Bali too is learnt to be satisfied with Mitra's exit.

Trouble has been brewing for the past sometime between the minister and Mitra over the issue of opening of the single tender for sugar supply under the Public Distribution System (PDS). What upset Bali was the fact that despite the Cabinet giving its nod for opening of the single tender, Mitra got approval to invite fresh bids through re-tendering.

Bali had been pressing that the single tender should be opened as the consumers were suffering due to sugar shortage. A total of four tenders had been received, but two of these had been rejected as their samples failed. The third bid did not qualify technically so only one tender was found to be eligible for being awarded the supply order.

The matter to allow opening of the single bid was placed before the Cabinet which gave its approval. However, despite the nod, Mitra sought approval from the government to invite fresh bids without the knowledge of his minister. Not willing to take such defiance lying low, Bali decided to take up the issue with the Chief Minister. 

Mandi, July 11
Health Minister Kaul Singh Thakur today inspected the flooded ground floor of the gynaecology wing of the 300-bedded Zonal Hospital here and directed the PWD to renovate the ward and take preventive measures to avoid the flooding in the hospital in future.

The Health Minister said the flood had caused damage worth Rs 8 lakh. The patients would get the best facility and the PWD should restore the flooded wing on a war footing, he added. The nullah should be channelised properly so that the water did not enter the hospital premises, he added.

He said the government would construct the C block of the hospital building soon as a large number of patients came to the hospital daily. The vacant posts of doctor and paramedical staff were being filled and the hospital would be equipped with the latest equipments so that patients got the best healthcare here, he said.

He was accompanied by Shubhkaran Singh, SDM, Sadar, AB Gupta, CMO, Mandi, Kehar Singh, SE, PWD, and Puran Chand Thakur, Mandi district president and others.

Kangra, July 11
Ajit Bhardwaj, Sub Divisional Magistrate (SDM), Kangra, has recovered a fine of Rs 1 lakh from miners indulging in illegal mining in the subdivision during the last two months and impounded hundreds of vehicles and JCBs during the raids.

SDM Ajit Bhardwaj today conducted raids in the Suddhu Khad on a complaint of residents of Suddhu Bargra village regarding massive illegal mining being carried out in the Suddhu Khad by the mining mafia and impounded two tractors and nine ponies and seized the mining material. They were fined on the spot.

The SDM said the mining, according to the villagers, had led to land erosion of valuable agricultural land at Suddhu Bargra village and the khad was posing a threat to them. He said with the help of the PWD, the road leading to the khad had been closed earlier, but the mining mafia developed another road to the khad.

Bhardwaj said the newly developed road was also closed to curb the activity. He said following earlier raids the mafia indulged in illegal mining either in the wee hours of the morning or late in the evenings. He said mining material detected in some private land was confiscated and would be auctioned soon.

He said people had become more vigilant and aware regarding the preservation of the environment and the bad impact of illegal mining on the environment and its degradation. Villagers now came forward and informed the authorities when illegal mining took place anywhere, which was a positive sign, he said. 

Dharamsala, July 11
The land demarcation work in the state has come to a halt as the Settlement Department is in a dilemma whether it should use old technology or new.

Sources in the department told The Tribune that the previous state government had stopped settlement work with old techniques that included measurement of land with iron chains (Jaribs).

It was decided that the work would now be done using GPS and Electronic Total Solution machines. The machines were purchased by the department.

Three districts, Sirmaur, Hamirpur and Mandi, were taken as test cases for carrying out settlement work with the help of new machines. A project was started in 15 villages of Sirmaur district where the measurement work of land had already been completed.

About 150 revenue officials were selected from across the state who were to be trained for settlement work with the help of new machines. However, it has been three years now since the project was started, but nothing has been done. The sources said most of the revenue officials, who were posted in the project for training, have been transferred.

The Central funds worth about Rs 7 crore were lying utilised with the state government for implementing the project.

A senior official, who was associated with the project, talking to The Tribune said the exercise in 15 villages of Sirmaur district by new machines gave accurate measurements of land. However, the entire exercise was in the doldrums.

The settlement work includes clear demarcations of boundaries of a village or other revenue parameters. It helps in creating maps of lands with accurate measurements. In many areas of the state, people are not able to have clear demarcations of lands due to incomplete settlement work. This is leading to increased litigations and disputes among people.

In Una and Kangra districts, thousands of cases are pending in courts regarding land disputes due to incomplete settlement or unavailability of complete revenue maps. In many cases, people have been waiting for years to get their land demarcated.

Senior officials in the Settlement Department said the work of settlement could only be completed with the government resolve. However, ironically no one in the government wants to take it seriously.

Shimla, July 11
The Himachal Police has decided to set up Special Juvenile Police Units in every district headquarters and police station to effectively handle cases of juvenile with the assistance of voluntary organisations and panchayats.

Director General of Police (DGP) B Kamal Kumar has directed the creation of these units in every district. "These units will be headed by the Superintendent of Police (SP) and will function as a watch dog for providing legal protection against all kinds of cruelty, abuse and exploitation of children, who are categorised as juvenile," he remarked.

He said these units would comprise an Additional Station House Officer (SHO) of the police station, one lady constable and one constable and the SHO would be designated as the Child Welfare Officer. "The main objective is to apprehend the perpetrators of crime against children and ensure that they are apprehended without any delay and booked under various provisions of the law," he stressed.

To ensure the effective role of these juvenile units, the local panchayat, gram sabha, voluntary organisations and Resident Welfare Associations would be associated in identifying those involved in crimes against children including violence, child neglect and child abuse.

To ensure proper monitoring, SPs have been directed to oversee its functioning and review cases of missing children in monthly meetings regularly.

Even though there is a Child Helpline, which offers assistance to children who are kidnapped or subjected to any kind of torture, the setting up of the units will help in prompt action in all such cases. 

Solan, July 11
At a time when the cost of construction is going up with each passing day, Nand Lal Gupta, an octogenarian, has come out with a unique low-cost housing technique by inventing bricks made of pine needles.

He explains the bricks can reduce the cost of building considerably and help utilise the abundantly found pine needles which cause forest fires.

Gupta (85) wants the government to provide support to open a training institute and a laboratory where youngsters can be trained to adapt to this new technique, opening employment avenues for them.

He believes this can also provide a low-cost option to the flood-ravaged Uttarakhand where thousands of people have lost their dwellings.

With limited educational and financial resources available, Gupta's journey to invent this technique has been full of struggle and penury. He recalls how to equip himself he had to spend his money on books and at times even had to go without food to procure books. His research has been a concerted effort spanning five decades.

This is not the lone product he has invented. His other products are pine boards as a substitute for wooden boards, soil bricks, hi-tech adhesives, pine wool by utilising pine needles spilled in plenty by pine trees in the area.

Explaining how his pine boards have overcome the problem of moisture, which other scientists too have been facing, he says he has developed a binder that helps remove moisture from the final product and these boards are nearly 30 per cent cheaper than the wooden board available in the market.

Having begun his career as a clerk in Panjab University, which was housed in Solan in 1948, Gupta was left jobless when the university shifted to Chandigarh a decade later.

His innovative ideas led him to continually experiment and devise techniques by using the locally available material.

Gupta is, however, a distraught man today as despite having invested his time and meagre resources in developing techniques, the state government has failed to do the needful to reward his efforts.

He recalls how despite approaching officials of the Forest Department, Dr YS Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry, Nauni, the Indian Science Congress and even Central Government offices, his efforts have failed to fetch him his due.

Bilaspur, July 11
Anurag Thakur, MP and national president, Bhartiya Janata Yuva Morcha, has threatened to launch a mass agitation if the long-awaited hydro-engineering college of Bandla hill here is not started by the government immediately.

Addressing a largely attended workers' meeting at Oel in the Bandla foothills on the outskirts of the town, after a series of meetings in the Bilaspur Sadar constituency here on Tuesday evening, Anurag said if he could muster the strength of several lakh youth to unfurl the national flag at Jammu, it was no big job to gather enough number of youth at Bilaspur to force the government to give to the town what was “its right” since the last four years.

Anurag was sore that Chief Minster Virbhadra Singh was not talking about this important project of not only Bilaspur district, but also of the state, as it would be first of its kind in the country. It would produce engineers and experts for the construction of hydro-power projects and Himachali youth would get a major share in this college to achieve a brilliant career.

Anurag alleged that it was Virbhadra Singh as Central minister who had obstructed the inauguration of this project two years ago. He said the then Central Energy Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde had categorically told a deputation of Himachal BJP MPs, including him, that he could not anger his own colleague from Himachal who has asked him not to inaugurate this college at Bilaspur.

Anurag said Virbhadra should explain why he had been opposing this project for which the NTPC had provided Rs 37.50 crore and a similar amount was committed by the NHPC, the two Central hydro-project implementing corporations in HP during the former BJP government in the state. 

Bilaspur, July 11
Ram Dass Dhiman (87), prominent social activist, retired Head Master and trade unionist of Emergency days, died at his home village Mehan in the Chandpur gram panchayat, near here, today. He had been ailing for some time due to a paralytic attack.

Dhiman was one of the four top leaders of the HP State Teachers Union, who challenged Prime Minister Indira Gandhi publically by condemning the Emergency in 1975 in a public poster.

He was detained, along with three other union leaders, state president Narayan Singh Swami (later BJP MLA), general secretary Ram Dass Thakur (later founder-general secretary of largest truck union BDTS at Barmana, near here) and Nand Lal Danedaar, state office-bearer, on charges of challenging the Emergency.

They spent more than one year in jail under the MISA. His funeral at the village cremation ghat was largely attended.

Chamba, July 11
An orientation programme training on Integrated Watershed Management Programme (IWMP) organised by the District Watershed Development Agency was conducted here today. The programme was attended by pradhans and up-pradhans and members of 17 gram panchayats of the district.

During the training, the participants were imparted knowledge about how to restore the ecological balance by harvesting, conserving and developing degraded natural resources such as soil vegetative cover and water thereby improving the economy of the rural populace.

In her keynote address, the Deputy Director-cum-Project Director Ramya Chauhan called upon the panchayati raj institutions (PRIs) to sincerely utilise the opportunities so as to derive optimal benefit from the project which had been sanctioned by the government for Chamba and Mehla development blocks.

She stressed on the needs and importance of watershed that affected the people in every walk of life.

“The sustained productivity of food, fodder, timber and water can be ensured only the management of precious natural resources of land, water and vegetation”, she suggested, highlighting the role of PRIs in this management through power-point presentation.

Technical expert (forestry) Chain Lal stressed on the role and responsibilities of executing agencies, self-help groups and user groups. The Hibra Bazaar documentary left the impact on each trainee participants in the execution and management of the IWMP which could familiarise them to solve some immediate problems to build confidence and experience participatory planning.

In the end, the pradhans and up-pradhans thanked the government for approving the funds for this project in their respective panchayats for generating self-employment avenues.

Kangra, July 11
In the second phase of the Mid-Himalayan Watershed Project, 102 new panchayats have been included. These include 25 panchayats of Kangra district. A sum of Rs 237 crore will be spent on the watershed programme and the time-frame for it has been extended till March 31, 2016.

This was stated by HRTC Vice-Chairman Kewal Singh Pathania while addressing a public meeting at Rait village, near here, today after he inaugurated the Watershed Development Coordination office. He said six new panchayats were being brought under the programme from the Shahpur Assembly segment, taking the number of the panchayats there to 12. These were Bhitloo, Tharu, Durgela, Rehlu, Basnoor, Gorara, Bhatla, Sudher, Ghroah, Lanjhani, Charri and Barrosarna. He said Rs 50 lakh would be spent on the developmental works in each panchayat.

He said a number of developmental works were carried out in the six panchayats of the Shahpur Assembly segment on which Rs 3.17 crore was spent. He said local youth were provided technical training under this programme and instruments were distributed among them.

He said Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh had inaugurated the programme in 2005 in 602 panchayats. The project was to be completed till March 31, 2013. But now its time-frame had been extended till March 31, 2016. He said by including102 new panchayats under the project, the number of the panchayats had gone up to 704. Under this project, soil, water and forests would be preserved and local youth would get employment.

He said during the coming two months, 51 Rajeev Gandhi Vatikas would be set up in 51 panchayats at Shahpur where herbal saplings would be planted. Those panchayats with maximum surviving plants would be awarded, he added.

Pathania distributed tool kits among 50 youth, who were trained in the plumber trade at the local ITI.

On the occasion, Additional Chief Conservator, Forest, Dr RC Kang spoke about the project being carried out in the state. Project Divisional Forest Officer Dr Lal Chand Patial welcomed the chief guest.

Mandi, July 11
More than 60 per cent of the pea crop worth several crores of rupees has perished in the rain-hit Kinnaur, Seraj, the Chauhar valley in Drang and Mandi, while 60 per cent of the tomato crop has rotted in Balh in Mandi district due to excessive early rain.

Link roads in Kinnaur and Seraj have remained blocked and that has hit the transportation of perishable crop to markets, farmers rued.

The farmers in the tribal belt of Kinnaur today staged a protest at Sangla, seeking the transportation of peas rotting in the fields as the national highway was still blocked. But farmers in Seraj heaved a sigh of relief after the road between Batikidhar and Lambathach-Mandi was restored to small vehicles yesterday.

But in Lahaul-Spiti district which was unaffected, pea farmers are selling the produce at Rs 40 a kg. The Manali-Leh highway has remained smooth this season and buyers are approaching farmers in the fields.

In contrast, farmers in Kinnaur are selling peas at Rs 15 a kg in Sangla, which has been cut off since June 17 from the highway.

The most affected are farmers in Sangla, Hangrang and Ropa valleys in Pooh block where apple orchards, along with the pea crop, have also perished. The Karcham-Sangla road has remained blocked since June 17 and peas have dried up or rotten in the field, rued Krishan Prakash Malanda, a pea famer.

The peas were being sold at Rs 15 a kg at Sangla and Nepal labourer charged Rs 600 per bag as carriage to lift the peas to the Karcham road link and they could only take one round a day and peas got spoiled before the crop reached the market, the farmers said.

“We could not harvest peas from the field in time due to rain and a large quantity of the produce rotted in the fields or roadsides as landslides blocked the roads,” said Tara Chand and Jagdish Kumar, farmers from Chuini and Shiva Thana, the major peas and cauliflower-producing areas in Seraj.

Similarly, more than 60 per cent of the tomato crop in Balh had been plagued by blight due to excessive rain, rued farmers.

Peas and vegetable perished soon after these were harvested and needed immediate transportation to markets, experts said.

Mandi, July 11
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which has yet to set up its base in the state, has hailed the landmark judgment of the Supreme Court barring the convicted MLAs and MPs from contesting the polls striking down the earlier provisions in the People's Representation Act.

Des Raj Sharma, member, national council, AAP, stated in a press note here today that the party hailed the judgment as it would cleanse public life as the convicted MLAs and MPs would not enter the state Assemblies and Parliament. 

Palampur, July 11
The Directorate General, NCC, New Delhi, has bestowed the honorary rank of “Colonel” in the NCC on Prof SK Sharma, Vice-Chancellor, CSKHP Agriculture University, here today.

Brig Bonny Mathew, Group Commander, NCC Group Headquarters, Shimla, at a ceremony organised in the Palampur University auditorium, conferred this title on him and also presented him the Certificate of Honour. Lt Col R K Rawat, Officer Commanding, 5 HP (I) Coy, NCC, Dharamsala, was also present on the occasion.

The honorary rank of Colonel in the NCC is conferred on distinguished persons for their role in promoting and organising NCC activities.

Prof SK Sharma has won several International Fellowships and awards such as the Commonwealth Post Doctoral Fellowship (1982), the Commonwealth Academic Staff Fellowship (1993), the Marie Curie European Commission Fellowship (1994), the Royal Society-INSA International collaborated award the UK (2002), Fellow of the National Academy of Agricultural Sciences (2004), National Academy of Sciences (2008), Rashtriya Udyog Ratan Award (2009), etc.

Una, July 11
The Una police has managed to arrest a burglar who had committed a theft and injured a woman and her daughter in Una town on July 9.

The Superintendent of Police (SP), Una, said Seema Devi of Takka road in the town had lodged a police complaint. In the complaint she had alleged that on July 9 at about 12.30 pm, two men came to her house and enquired about her husband.

She told them that her husband was not home. Hearing that one of them attacked her with an iron rod and she sustained head injury. The other man tried to strangulate her daughter Mansi, who was present there. Later, they also hit Mansi with an iron rod.

After injuring them, the burglars snatched her gold chain, ear-rings and a gold ring and fled.

The SP said following the information provided by the complainant, a police team raided various places in Punjab where the suspects were believed to be hiding. One of the accused Surinder Rana was arrested from Fatehgarh district of Punjab. He is a resident of the Mukandpur area in Nawanshahr district of Punjab.

A case under Sections 307, 382, 325, 323, 452 and 34, IPC, has been registered against the accused.