Shimla, July 29
The first meeting of the general house after the reconstitution of the Pradesh Congress Committee today focused on "Mission 2014" with the Hamirpur Lok Sabha seat on the target.

AICC general secretary Ambika Soni heard the views of all leaders and most of them expressed concern over the inability of the party to win the Hamirpur seat from where former Chief Minister PK Dhumal and his son Anurag had been winning since 1998. The party felt comfortable in other three constituencies and wanted to make a clean sweep by winning the Hamirpur seat.

Soni appreciated the fact that there was perfect coordination between the government and the organisation and the two were functioning in tandem which augured well for the party. It enabled the party to win the recent Mandi Lok Sabha bypoll by a huge margin. However, it would take some time to clear the mess left by the outgoing party. She told party workers that they would have to work hard to win the Hamirpur seat and would get feedback from grassroot workers to know the reason and what was needed to be done to demolish the BJP citadel. She said MGNREGA, the RTE, the RTI and now the NFSO were started by the UPA government to empower the common man.

Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh said the National Food Security Ordinance was a major step to ensure food security to the people and in Himachal, he had launched the subsidised ration scheme in 2007 which also covered above poverty line people.

He said Ambika Soni was an experienced leader and it was for the second time that she had been made in charge of the state affairs and the party would gain from her experience. He also welcomed secretary, AICC, and co-in charge Geetashree Oraon.

PCC chief Sukhwinder Singh said the workers conventions would be organised in each Lok Sabha constituency from the next one month to galvanise the party workers. He said the party would strive to win all four seats.

Mission 2014 Cong feels comfortable in other three constituencies Soni appreciates coordination between government and party Conventions to be held to galvanise party workers

Shimla, July 29
AICC general secretary Ambika Soni today made it clear that leaders carrying on with twin responsibilities would have to make a choice soon, asserting that adhering to the principle of one-man, one-post was the key to strong and vibrant party.

"I, along with some other leaders, left the Cabinet and gave priority to party work as I felt that I could make a meaningful contribution and help strengthen the organisation. Congress president Sonia Gandhi had declined to head the government and vice-president Rahul Gandhi had also given preference to the party instead of joining the government. This made it evident how important it was to be associated with organisational work," Soni, who is in charge of party affairs of Himachal, was in town to attend the first meeting of the newly constituted Pradesh Congress Committee.

She said the Congress was a democratic party and it did not believe in forcing matters. The choice was left to leaders. She cited the example of senior leader Ghulam Nabi Azad, who was doing a good job as the Union Health Minister. He preferred to remain in the government, while Asha Kumari, a senior leader from the state, had opted to work for the party. The party organisation and the government were important and time had to be devoted to deliver on both fronts. It helped the party in the states where it was not in power.

Chief Parliamentary Secretary Rakesh Kalia resigned after he was inducted as secretary in the AICC.

She came down heavily on the Opposition for opposing the Food Security Act and said the Congress would go to the masses and expose the BJP. Various parties had been promising free or subsidised ration in their poll manifestoes, but the Congress had taken a historic step by enacting a law to make the right to food a reality. It would go a long way in providing succour to the needy and building a healthy nation.

She also took a dig at BJP's Prime Ministerial candidate Narender Modi, terming him "one of the players" in the arena. The Congress need not to be obsessed by him as all build-up about Modi in the media was part of a sponsored campaign. The fact was that he was being targeted by his own party leaders who were not ready to accept him. Anurag for construction of war memorial in the state.

Bilaspur, July 29
Hamirpur MP and national president of the Bhartiya Janata Yuva Morcha Anurag Thakur has criticised the Central and state governments for ignoring the sacrifices of brave soldiers and martyrs. He said it was shameful that no government had raised a befitting national or state martyrs’ memorial till now.

Talking to mediapersons here at the Circuit House today in the presence of three-time MP Suresh Chandel, Anurag said he was determined to construct a beautiful war memorial for valiant soldiers in the state and he had already declared his resolve to raise such a memorial at Hamirpur town.

The MP said he had donated Rs 1 crore for the memorial and several MPs had committed to provide Rs 11 crore for the same. Leaders of the state committee of ex-servicemen would be constituted to go ahead with the ambitious project, he said.

Anurag urged the state government to allot 100 to 150 kanal for this memorial.

He pooh-poohed the idea of Vigilance probe into Pavilion Hotel at Dharamsala and said everybody was aware that the Virbhadra government had done nothing except hounding out its political adversaries in the last eight months of its rule.

He said he had given Rs 17.5 crore to all 17 Assembly segments under his constituency, each constituency getting at least Rs 1 crore for development works.

He charged Virbhadra Singh for allegedly sabotaging all projects of Bilaspur district, including the country’s one and only prestigious Hydro-Engineering College at Bandla and a polytechnic college, both central projects that he had brought to the district. 

Shimla, July 29
Fruit growers will stage demonstrations in the four major apple producing districts on August 1 against the failure of commission agents (arhtias) to pay the growers to clear the pending payments to farmers amounting to over Rs 15 crore for the last year.

The protest being jointly organised by the Himachal Kisan Sabha and the State Seb Utpadak Sangh will be held right down to block level in Shimla, Kinnaur, Kullu and Mandi districts. Their main grievance is that the government policies are being tailor-made for corporate sectors, which have been given various incentives to undertake marketing of farm produce and the interests of the growers are being neglected.

Rakesh Singha, president of the sangh, said his organisation would publish the list all the commission agents who had failed to pay the growers if the outstanding amounts were not cleared by them with 12 per cent interest by August 7. The growers would boycott those whose name appeared in the list.

He also took an exception to the new practice introduced by the commission agents by paying 40 per cent less for the small size apple.

He said it was nothing but a ploy to exploit the growers. It was illegal as fruit was sold in the retail market by weight.

He also opposed the increase in the road tax from Rs 2 to Rs 5 per box at a time when the cost of production had gone up by 23 to 35 per cent and the prices had dwindled by 30 per cent.

The opening of marketing sector to private companies had only made the matters worse. It had not helped the cause of the growers at all. He alleged that the government had given up the plan to introduce universal packing carton of 20 kg capacity under pressure from commission agents who gained if more fruit was packed in the carton. The growers were packing up to 28 kg of fruit and the beneficiaries were the commission agents, he alleged.

Hamirpur, July 29
The failure of the Regional Hospital authorities, Hamirpur, to purchase medicines for over Rs 20 lakh during the last few months for the Jan Aushadhi Kendra, established in the hospital, has drawn a lot of criticism.

The medicines for the Jan Aushadhi Kendra were to be purchased by the hospital authorities through the Rogi Kalyan Samiti (RKS).

The Health Department has also provided a list of about 300 medicines, mostly generic, for making these available at affordable prices.

Ashish Singhmar, DC, Hamirpur, during his sudden visit to the Regional Hospital, Hamirpur, had given directions to the medical superintendent of the hospital to procure medicines from doctors and make these available through the Jan Aushadhi Kendra, but the hospital authorities failed to procure the medicines.

“The generic medicines, which were to be sold at affordable prices through the Jan Aushadhi Kendra, are not being procured due to resistance by a few doctors who had been prescribing costly medicines to help a few pharmaceutical companies for their vested interests,” a few patients complained.

Purshortam Lall, an attendant with a patient admitted at the Regional Hospital, Hamirpur, said, “The medicines prescribed by the hospital are mostly not available in the kendra, defeating its very purpose. We are forced to buy medicines from chemists at higher prices”.

The DC said, “I had asked the hospital authorities to purchase medicines for the kendra, but it has come to my knowledge that the medicines have not been procured. I have convened a meeting on Wednesday to take up the matter with the hospital authorities for procuring medicines at the kendra,” he added.

Solan, July 29
The centrally sponsored Baddi Technical Training Institute (BTTI) at Jharmajri, Baddi, has failed to attract adequate number of students for its various technical courses.

The institute has been developed by the Baddi Infrastructure, Special Purpose Vehicle of Baddi-Barotiwala-Nalagarh (BBN) Industries Association. Despite placing advertisements in several newspapers, the student strength has failed to touch even the double figure, thus forcing the association to opt for workshops to generate awareness. The institute has been provided Rs 8.5 crore by the Centre and imparts technical training in industry-related trades.

The BTTI will cater to the training needs of the industrial workers of local industries in particular and of all the industries in the state in general. It will also provide technical training to the educated unemployed youth of the state.

The institute is being established under the Industrial Infrastructure Upgrade Scheme of the Government of India under the public private partnership mode in which the state government is also playing a major role. The Himachal Pradesh government has allotted 30 bighas of land to the institute on a very nominal lease amount, besides providing funds as per the requirements of the scheme.

Though the institute is well-equipped and has seven classrooms, two computer laboratories, library, two blocks of workshop, etc, it has failed to attract students to start the first batches.

The institute has ties with Nettur Technical Training Foundation, which is a known for imparting technical training to industrial workers as well as unemployed educated youth.

"The BTTI can impart training to 720 educated unemployed youth in the first year and 1,200 youth in long-term courses. Regarding short-term courses for providing training to industrial workers, the institute will impart training to 37,500 candidates in a year,” said Keshav Chandel, CEO of the BTTI.

The institute is starting three long-term courses for unemployed youth. The courses will last for six months to one year. It also has a provision of scholarship for the BPL family candidates and eligible persons can also be given the facility of loan. With the assurance of job in the private sector, the BBN association would now conduct workshops in various districts to generate awareness about the trades available at the institute, added Chandel.

Shimla, July 29
The Himachal Police has decided to have a professionally trained Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) to prevent any attempt by militant outfits to strike in the peaceful hill state.

Himachal proposes to have an ATS which will be trained by the special wing of the National Investigation Agency (NIA), Delhi, which has expertise in counter-terrorism operations. To begin with, 20 Himachal Police personnel will be trained by the NIA to specialise in dealing with counter-terrorism operations.

“We have approached the NIA to train 20 personnel so that our force has specially trained men in this filed,” said Director General of Police B Kamal Kumar. He said the ATS would be stationed in a central location in the state so that they were able to reach any corner of the state in a short span.

Himachal has two Special Action Groups (SAG) in Shimla and Dharamsala, having 50 men each who have been trained for special operations. However, they are not trained for counter-terrorism operations. “The Anti-Terrorist Squad will be trained to respond to terror threats, control and coordinate in all counter-terrorism measures and investigate terrorism-related activities,” the DGP said.

The Armed Police and Training (APT) wing of the police has been asked to select 20 personnel from various ranks below the age of 35 years who are physically fit.

They will undergo the rigorous training to counter terrorism-related activities and train others in similar operations.

Even though Himachal continues to remain peaceful with no major terrorist activities except in parts of Chamba district that share boundary with Jammu and Kashmir, recent intelligence inputs have indicated that some Buddhist and Tibetan monasteries in Dharamsala and two tribal districts of Kinnaur and Lahaul Spiti could be targeted.

The security of Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama is another concern. Following the bomb blasts in Bodh Gaya, security has been tightened in the important monasteries like the one adjacent to Dalai Lama’s residence in McLeodganj, Tabo and Kei monasteries in Lahaul Spiti and the Gyuto Tantrik monastery, where the 17th Karmapa, Ogyen Trinley Dorjee, stays after his flight from Tibet.

Besides this, Himachal has some major hydro-power projects which could also be targeted by terrorists. An Anti-Terrorist Squad will help guard such sensitive places and the monasteries against potential terrorist threat.

Bilaspur, July 29
Officers of the HP Directorate of Fisheries should not depend on modern techniques and research done by the ICR, rather they should do their own research and surveys based on their field experiences for better fish production in the state.

This call was given by Tarun Shridhar, Principal Secretary, Fisheries, while addressing the closing function of a two-day national seminar organised by the HP Directorate of Fisheries here.

Shridhar said this seminar would help the state and fishermen and officers in ensuring better ways for more production of quality fish in reservoirs and water bodies.

The Principal Secretary said fishermen and officers should develop fisheries in Himachal Pradesh on the pattern of states like Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra so that it helped thousands of fishermen earn maximum out of this profession and have better living conditions within the shortest time.

Shridhar said presently Himachal was producing only 800 metric tonnes of fish annually, but if modern techniques were employed and the fish cage culture was adopted, this amount of fish could be produced through 15 to 20 cages alone.

Fisheries experts drawn from various states of the country addressed the seminar.

They included Dr Gopi Reddy (Hyderabad), Rajiv Kumar (Jharkhand), Dr Firoz Khan (Bangalore), Mahesh Kumar and Tapesh Chauhan, Rajan Sood, Kuldip Kumar, KB Ralhan, NN Pande, SP Mehta, Richa Gupta, BK Mishra, Dr RS Haldar (Bhimtal), Yogesh Gupta, Lovel Kumar, VK Puri and Gurcharan Singh among others. Neel Kamal (Mumbai) gave a special presentation on “fish cage culture technique”.

Earlier, Anupam Kashyap, Additional Secretary, Fisheries, inaugurated the seminar.

Shimla, July 29
The HP High Court has directed the state government to take a final decision on the creation of posts of police personnel and also for enhancing the amount for police housing.

Justice Rajiv Sharma passed this order after perusing the affidavit filed by the Director General of Police, wherein it was mentioned that the process for the creation of 118 posts of woman Sub-Inspectors and 1,118 woman constables had been initiated.

It further mentioned that the Police Department had also requested the state government to provide Rs 900 crore under police housing. However, the state government has earmarked Rs 117.77 crore under the police housing in the 12th Five-Year Plan.

While passing the aforesaid direction, the court further observed, “Building houses for police personnel will definitely improve their efficiency.”

The court further directed the state to produce a copy of the order before the 14th Finance Commission for allocating necessary funds towards the construction of houses for police personnel and listed the matter for further hearing on October 28.

The court passed the order two days back during the hearing of a petition for executing the earlier order of the court, wherein it had directed the state to constitute a committee to improve the conditions of services being provided to the police personnel.

Bilaspur, July 29
Ex-serviceman and transporter Jogender Singh Patial (58) of Berry Mian village, near here, died unattended by any doctor at the Regional Hospital here on Saturday after having waited for 15 minutes for treatment.

He died there even though his family and neighbours had rushed him to the hospital at 11 am on Saturday.

Milap Chand, former vice-president of the Berry Mian gram panchayat and brother of the deceased, told mediapersons that all efforts of relatives and attendants of the deceased to bring a doctor to examine him in time failed. They even failed to get a stretcher for him.

While scores of people accompanied by patients waited anxiously for doctors, there was no doctor in the OPD and the trauma centre.

Milap Chand said the deceased had complained of chest pain and was suspected to have had a heart attack. He was rushed to the hospital, but died there without getting timely medical aid.

A woman doctor came to check him after about 15 minutes' wait, but it was too late as he had already died.

He said they were going to complain against the hospital to the higher authorities regarding the mismanagement in the hospital and would demand action and a high-level probe in the matter. He also urged Health Minister Kaul Singh Thakur to conduct a probe into the incident.

Nurpur, July 29
The local unit of the Himachal Pradesh Ex-Servicemen (ESM) League held its meeting at Suliali, near here, today, under the chairmanship of Col NS Pathania (retd). A large number of Army ex-servicemen of various ranks and Veer Naris from Jawali, Fatehpur, Indora, Chawari, Bakoh and Nurpur participated in the meeting.

Presiding over the meeting, Pathania underlined the need to strengthen the unity of all the ex-servicemen of the state to thwart the delaying tactics of political parties, who repeatedly had made “one rank one pension” an election gimmick to garner the support of 27 lakh strong ESM community in the country.

He said, “All political parties capitalise the issue to garner ESM votes, but turn a blind eye to their long-pending demands like pension fixation of Hony/Naib Subedars, Subedars and Hony/Subedar Majors. The ESM in far-flung areas are suffering due to lack of Army polyclinics. The demand for CSD canteens by the ESM has also remained unattended for the past many years.”

He alleged that despite the directions of the apex court relating to the pension fixation, honorary ranks were still compelled to spend large amounts of their pensions in lower courts to seek justice.

Bilaspur, July 29
Excise and Taxation officers here have charged tax and penalty worth Rs 5.05 lakh from gold ornament dealer Sukhvinder Singh of Punjab who was found carrying gold ornaments worth Rs 19.42 lakh without the payment of taxes.

Reports said a police team, led by Assistant SHO Raj Kumar and consisting of Head Constable Lalit Kumar and constable Avtar Singh, found a Swift car parked near the Shahid Kumari Champa park in the main market on the National Highway-21 here. When they questioned its occupant, he evaded the questions following which the policemen checked his car.

The team found gold jewellery in a bag in the car and asked the occupant to present papers of the sale and purchase of the ornaments. The dealer, who belongs to Tarn Taran of Amritsar district in Punjab, did not have any papers.

The police informed the Excise and Taxation officers and ETO Lalit Poswal and his associates BS Mankotia and Tilak Raj rushed to the spot. They found that the dealer had 602 gm gold and 744 gm gold-plated ornaments costing Rs 19.42 lakh being carried here in the state without paying any VAT. The penalty and tax of Rs 5.05 lakh was charged from him on the spot.

Chamba, July 29
The regional Sale of Articles of Rural Artisans’ Societies (SARAS) Fair-2013 started here yesterday under the aegis of the Integrated Watershed Management Programme (IWMP). The fair promotes home-made products among customers as well as tourists.

“The exhibition is a good opportunity for customers to try the products of self-help groups (SHGs) and a chance for producers to promote their products to new customers,” said ID Lakhanpal, Chief Parliamentary Secretary (Rural Development), while inaugurating the exhibition.

“Besides seeking markets, the SHGs should increase production of home-made goods in accordance with the market demand and competitiveness,” Lakhanpal suggested.

He also launched Him Pir Panjal Products, popularly known as Him Triple P, displaying a variety of products, including sweaters, socks, caps, baby suits, pickles, chukh, jari, decorative artificial jewellery, hangings and sattu, a traditional food product.

The Integrated Watershed Management Programme is an integrated programme and the SHGs are involved in this project with the objective of poverty alleviation with systematic training, capacity building, incentive and bank credit to take up income generation activities.

There are 206 men and 220 women SHGs formed under the project for economic uplift of the people, said Ramya Chauhan, Deputy Director-cum-Project Director, of the programme.

Bilaspur, July 29
Two women pilgrims lost their gold ornaments to pickpockets on the premises of the Shri Naina Devi temple, 95 km from here, last evening.

According to reports, Usha Kiran, a pilgrim from Takka village of Una district, lost her gold bangle (kada), which she was wearing, while another pilgrim, Raj Rani, from Chandigarh, lost her gold chain in two separate incidents of pickpocketing here.

The stolen gold ornaments are said to be of more than Rs 1 lakh. The matter has been reported to the police, but no arrests have been made so far. Although the police claims to keep an eye on pickpockets during a huge rush of pilgrims who come from far-off places to pay obeisance to the deity, yet such incidents happen on the temple premises.

The security of the Temple Trust management has warned pilgrims to remain vigilant against pickpockets. As the Shravan Ashtami Navratras begin, the crowd of pilgrims will swell several times from the first Navratra, which begins on August 7. 

Chamba, July 29
The state government has planned to mark the silver jubilee year of the State Forensic Science Laboratory (SFSL), Junga, by organising various activities during the year.

A forensic exhibition has been organised under the auspices of the Regional Forensic Science Lab (RFSL), Dharamsala, at the International Minjar Fair of Chamba commencing from on Saturday. The Forensic Science exhibition at the Minjar fair will be held for the first time.

Dr Arun Sharma, Director, SFSL, said officials at the exhibition had been deputed to explain and educate people about the forensic activities.

Earlier, the organisation had held its exhibition at the International Shivratri Fair in Mandi from March 11 to 17 this year. 

Sundernagar, July 29
The condition of National Highway (NH) No. 21 is pathetic at many places. The road at Dadaur, between Sundernagar and Mandi, shows the negligence on the part of the national highway authorities as this stretch is in a bad shape. Interestingly, this spot is situated at a distance of 200 metres from the residence of Excise Minister Parkash Chaudhary.

For the last two months, commuters have been facing hardships, as vehicles move at a snail's pace on this expanse of road. While moving on this patch, one gets a feeling of moving on a riverbed, as gravel and muddy water cover this stretch of National Highway No. 21.

Mandi, July 29
The wildlife teams spotted the man-eating leopard last night after it killed a domestic cat in the Thunag belt and gave the slip to the five sharpshooters who were entrenched to strike at different locations.

Panic continues in the area as the leopard has attacked many times in the Shikawari Thunag belt for the past 12 days. Team leader and conservator BS Rana said the leopard killed the cat and appeared to be the same animal that had killed Radha Devi a few days ago.

Rana said wildlife teams would be deployed at three different locations.