Dharamsala, August 1
Amid reports that the state government has issued orders to register a case against the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association (HPCA), its president Anurag Thakur has termed the move a political vendetta.

Anurag Thakur, who was in Chintpurni, talking to newspersons said the HPCA was the only sports association that had performed in Himachal. The association had built five cricket stadiums, including the international cricket stadium at Dharamsala. Players from Himachal had got representation in the national team in the Under-19 and IPL matches. Sushma Verma, cricket player, has represented India in international matches. This had happened with the efforts of the HPCA. However, the Congress was not being able to digest the success of the HPCA and so was targeting it, Anurag Thakur said.

He said the HPCA was forced to construct its own hotel as the ICC inspection team had raised objection for organising international cricket matches in the Dharamsala stadium. The ICC had put a condition for constructing a five-star hotel at Dharamsala for international cricket matches.

The HPCA waited for 10 years from 2003 to 2013 for a private party to build a hotel. However, as none came forward, the HPCA constructed the hotel, Anurag said.

When asked about conversion of societies into companies, Anurag said cricket societies in most of the states had been converted into companies with the approval of the BCCI. The sports societies had been converted into societies as the state governments were meddling in the affairs of cricket societies under the garb of the Societies Act. Since the companies were registered under the Companies Act, the state government could not interfere in these.

Hamirpur: BJP MP and president of the HP Cricket Association (HPCA) Anurag Thakur has said there is nothing illegal in leasing the government land to the HPCA for constructing a luxury hotel for international cricket players at Dharamsala. Talking to mediapersons here yesterday, he said, “The HPCA had brought Dharamsala on the international cricket map and the hotel was built since there was not even a single hotel of the standard at Dharamsala for accommodating international players.”

He said, “There had been no illegality in giving land for this purpose as we are paying about Rs 27 lakh per annum as lease money on commercial rate.”

He said, “The HPCA is not scared of the Vigilance or the police as everything is legal and people crying illegality should read the changed lease rules first.”

He said a Shaheed Samarak with the cost of Rs 11 crore would be built in the district in the memory of martyrs for which he would contributed Rs 1 crore from the MPLAD fund and the rest of the money would be donated by a few MP and public.

Solan, August 1
The Medical Council of India (MCI) has declined to enhance the MBBS seats in two medical colleges, Indira Gandhi Medical College (IGMC), Shimla, and Dr Rajendra Prasad Government (RPG) Medical College, Tanda, from 100 to 150 at its board of governors meeting held in New Delhi yesterday.

Earlier, the MCI had enhanced the seats of the IGMC, Shimla, from 65 to 100, while in RPG Medical College, the seats had been enhanced to 100 from 50. The seats had been raised in 2010. Since the first batch had not completed the five-year course after the seat enhancement, the board has declined to approve the state’s case now.

The state had put up a case before the MCI and a team comprising Dr Anil Chauhan, Principal, RPG Medical College, Tanda, KK Sharma, Additional Director, Medical Education and Research and IGMC, Shimla, had gone to Delhi to address any issue raised by the board. The state had applied for seat enhancement following the MCI’s norm of considering increase in seats in colleges having completed 10 years.

Various factors like the current seat capacity, total standing of the institution, consent of affiliation, legal clearance, etc, were among the major parameters on which the two colleges were examined for seat enhancement.

With limited accommodation available for the students pursuing various postgraduate courses, the IGMC is facing the shortage of hostels to accommodate new PG students this year.

Doctors said creating additional hostels should be the top priority of the state government before seeking any further seat enhancement.

The state government is facing a shortage of doctors in its health institutions. The previous BJP government had recruited 453 doctors in its five-year tenure through the Rogi Kalyan Samiti, but 169 of them had resigned, leaving only 284 doctors out of this total number in service.

The government was, therefore, keen to enhance the seats in medical colleges so that the shortage could be offset in the coming years. 

The Reason

The MCI had enhanced the seats of the IGMC, Shimla, and RPG Medical College in 2010. Since the first batch has not completed the five-year course after the seat enhancement, the board has declined to approve the state’s case now.

Palampur, August 1
The state government has issued a notice to medical officers posted at various government hospitals, particularly in Kangra district, to avoid overmedication and not prescribe substandard drugs to poor patients. But till date, there has been no impact of the warning.

It may be recalled that state Health Minister Kaul Singh Thakur had warned the medical officers three months ago against prescribing unwanted and sub-standard drugs to patients. He had also ordered for a social audit of prescriptions of medical officers.

But in Kangra district, hardly any medical officer has adhered to the warning of the Health Minister so far. Doctors are still prescribing medicines of those companies which provide them handsome incentives.

A senior officer of the Health Department admitted that over 300 brands of sub-standard drugs were being sold on the prescription of medical officers. But no action has been initiated against the medical officers, who enjoyed political patronage of ministers and MLAs.

A doctor on duty said: “No one, whether he is the Health Minister or the Secretary, Health, has the authority to challenge the prescriptions of the doctors. Such circulars are routine.”

The indoor record of various hospitals in Palampur and other places established that the doctors had repeatedly prescribed particular brands of medicines of specific companies to patients for the past three years.

Shimla, August 1
Sanjay Kumar, a 1985 batch IPS officer, today assumed the office of Director General of Police, following the retirement of B Kamal Kumar yesterday. Kumar had returned from a deputation in the Railways about a week ago and had been posted as Additional Director General of Police (ADGP), Law and Order.

“My endeavour will be to bring about professionalism in the force and develop a partnership with the local people so that there is no law and order problem,” he emphasised. He added that with rapid pace of industrialisation and coming up of big projects in Himachal, thrust would remain on industrial security.

He also admitted that with tourism being another major industry in the hill state, the police would be trained to ensure that the popular destinations in the state were safe for visitors. “It is in consultation with other government departments that the police would like to regulate transport and other amenities to promote tourism,” he said.

The DGP said as per the alert from the National Investigation Agency (NIA), the security was being tightened at all major monasteries. “We will take all possible measures to check trafficking of narcotics and a special drive will be undertaken to check the menace,” he emphasized.

He said the level of awareness among the people of the state was high and he was hopeful that the law abiding citizens would extend cooperation to the police force to ensure that Himachal remained a peaceful state.

Shimla, August 1
The police has recovered eight priceless “ashtdhatu” idols of the deity and other valuables stolen on June 23 from an ancient temple near Rohru from three Nepalese labourers who were arrested in Delhi last night.

The police brought the three accused, Dhirender Shahi, Bharat Shahi and Ramesh, from Delhi to Rohru where they identified the spot where they had hidden the stolen valuables this morning.

“The persons were also involved in the murder of the caretaker at the Devta Sahib Bandra temple near Rohru,” said Director General of Police Sanjay Kumar. He added that the safety of the idols and antiques, housed in ancient temples, would be a priority for the police.

It was following interception of mobile phones which helped the police to zero in on the culprits. “Considering the immense faith the locals have in the deity, we knew it was the handiwork of the outsiders and we put certain numbers on surveillance,” revealed Abhishek Dullar, Superintendent of Police, Shimla.

He said the main idols along with other valuables had been handed over to the temple committee after its release from the court.

He said the accused, after committing the cold blood murder, walked to a place Serai Dhar, about 30 kms from the temple, where they dug a pit and hid the idols and gold and silver items,” said Dullar. Later, they left for Chandigarh and then headed for Delhi, where they were nabbed with the help of a team from the operation cell of the Delhi Police.

Though the interrogation of the three accused is still on, it is learnt that they had arrived in Rohru to work as labourers during the apple season almost a month back. They had worked earlier in Gaziabad.

The three Nepalese destroyed the Sim cards of their phones after reaching Chandigarh but their phones had been on surveillance immediately after the theft was detected on the morning of June 23. “First, they tried to break open the lock of the main vault of the temple where other priceless antiques were kept, but after being unsuccessful, they stole the items lying in the open and murdered the caretaker who had woken up,” said Dullar.

Manali, August 1
For a 14-member adventure group from London, a 12-day high altitude Pin-Parbati trek trip went awry as one of the members suffered high-altitude sickness short of 5,000-m high Pin Parbati Pass yesterday. The team members lost contact with the rest of the world after their global positioning system (GPS) failed.

The district administration today dispatched a 14-member rescue team from Kullu, which is on its way to the Pass from Kheer Ganga. The rescue team was sent after the British Embassy took up the matter with the state after receiving an SOS and a distress call from the trekkers at the Indira Gandhi International Airport.

However, after the incident, adventurers here raised questions on the proper acclimatisation of the trekkers by the company before they left for the Pass.

The expedition arrived here on July 21. It left from Kheer Ganga on July 25 and crossed the Mantalai glacier.

Kullu DC Rakesh Kanwar said all the members of the team were safe and would be brought back to Kheer Ganga this evening or tomorrow.

The rescue team included Home Guards, ITBP and experts from the Mountaineering Institute of Manali.

Rup Katoch, managing director, Himalayan Folkways, a Manali-based tour operator, coordinating with the UK-based company that sponsored the trekkers, claimed that the rescue team had contacted the trekkers and the expedition would reach Kheer Ganga this evening.

Kangra, August 1
Central University Himachal Pradesh (CUHP) Vice-Chancellor Prof Furqan Qamar today urged the postgraduate students to not to get constrained by the lack of resources to achieve their goals.

He was addressing the students and faculty members of the university during the orientation programme for PG students at the Temporary Academic Block of the university at Shahpur.

He said, “Ninety per cent of the successful people are those who rose through the challenges and achieved their destination.”

Highlighting the vision of the university, he said, “The role of the university is not to market degrees but to provide opportunity to the students to gain theoretical and practical knowledge and make them responsible citizens of the country.”

Pro Vice-Chancellor Prof Yoginder Singh Verma said degrees were just the passport to enter into an institution or profession but only with knowledge, we can understand society in a better way.

Nagaland Governor Ashwani Kumar will address the students tomorrow as a part of the orientation programme. 

Palampur, August 1
A district-level gaddi mahapanchayat was held here today in which members of the community from all over the district participated. The main objective of the mahapanchayat was to highlight the problems being faced by the tribal community and to seek better share in power.

Addressing the mahapanchayat, Trilok Kapoor, senior gaddi leader and former chairman of the HP State Wool Federation, said despite the fact that the community had a sizeable population in the state, till date no member of the community was given ticket for Parliament elections by any party.

He said the community was grateful to senior BJP leader Shanta Kumar and former Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal who recognised them, gave them party tickets for Assembly elections and also made their representatives ministers in the state government and Speaker in the state Assembly.

However, the Congress always extended step-motherly treatment to the community and ignored their interests, he alleged.

Even today, there was only one minister from the community in the state Cabinet, while during the BJP regime, the party had two representatives in the government, he added.

Kapoor said out of 17 Assembly segments in the Kangra Lok Sabha Constituency, 12 were dominated by the gaddi community, therefore, it had a strong case for getting the party ticket in the Lok Sabha elections.

Later, the mahapanchayat passed a resolution urging the BJP high command and party president, Rajnath Singh, to give ticket to Trilok Kapoor, a youth BJP leader. It was also resolved that the community would extend full support to the BJP in the coming Parliament elections.

Roshan Lal, senior BJP leader, Gurmukh Singh, former president of the state Gaddi Union, Jagat Ram, president of the Tribal Cell of Sulaha, and various other gaddi leaders were present in the mahapanchayat. 

Shimla, August 1
Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh today stressed the need for strengthening the cooperative movement which was started in the state in 1892 and now had more than 4,700 societies functioning in Himachal.

The Chief Minister was presiding over a review meeting of the Department of Cooperatives here. “The cooperative movement was started at Panjawar in Una District in 1892 and presently, there are more than 4,700 cooperative societies with a membership of 15.35 lakh in the state,” he said.

He said working capital of cooperatives was over Rs 17,588 crore and deposits were over Rs 13,353 crore up to March 2013 at the closing of this financial year. He said the sale of consumer goods was Rs 1,312 crore, while fertilisers worth Rs 197 crore were sold during this period.

He said the total share capital of primary agriculture cooperative societies was over Rs 100 crore while consumer goods worth Rs 779 crore were sold through 1,891 fair price shops in the state.

He said all the urban cooperative banks, including Baghat, Shimla, Parwanoo, Mandi and Chamba, were doing good business and serving the common man.

He said the Centre had implemented Rs 3,000-crore handloom revival package for individuals as well as weaver cooperatives and Rs 6.6 crore had been provided to 65 weavers’ cooperatives in the state.

The Chief Minister said new initiatives were being taken under diversification and expansion of activities of cooperatives societies. He said in order to promote dairy activities, general employment and income resources to the public, a dairy project for chilling and processing of milk and its products with an estimated cost of Rs 1.53 crore would be set up at Dadhol in Bilaspur.

A modern grading and packaging unit with a capacity of 550 boxes would be set up at Jubbal with an estimated cost of Rs 23 lakh besides another such unit to be set up at Kumarsain in Shimla district, he added.

Harsh Mahajan, chairman, HP State Cooperative Bank, said the bank had paid a capital of Rs 847.43 lakh and a working capital of over Rs 7,062 crore. He said many new initiatives were being taken to improve its position in the banking sector. 

Chamba, August 1
Residents of the areas, who live beyond Tikrigarh, Bagheigarh and Bharara, in a remote Churah sub-division in the district, have urged the state government to start a Himachal Road Transport Corporation (HRTC) bus service for school students and local populace.

The residents said their area in the recent past had been provided road connectivity but no bus had so far plied on this route. In the absence of a bus facility, poor public of this area had been facing problem as they could not bear the burden of expensive fares of the taxis, which were run by private operators on this route, they added.

They said students were also unable to avail the free travel facility announced by the state government as there was no bus service on this route.

Dharamsala, August 1
The state-level executive meeting of the BJP, to be attended by party president Rajnath Singh, will be held at Palampur tomorrow. Sources said the meeting would serve as a training camp for the state-level delegates of the party in view of the forthcoming parliamentary elections.

Party president Rajnath Singh, national general secretary JP Nadda, former CM Prem Kumar Dhumal and Shanta Kumar would explain the agenda of the party for the parliamentary elections to the delegates.

The BJP performance in Kangra district remained dismal in the last Assembly Elections due to infighting between Dhumal and Shanta factions.

The loss in Kangra led to the formation of the Congress government in the state as the party had won 10 seats in the district that was once considered as a stronghold of the BJP.

Hamirpur, August 1
Dismissing the decision of the previous government to organise Hamir Utsav in September, the state government has decided to celebrate the utsav from November 1 to 3.

The state government has stated that the rainy season continues till September which may disrupt the programme, so it has been decided to hold the utsav in November.

Last year, the celebrations of the utsav which was held in September were marred by heavy rains.

Earlier, former Chief Minister PK Dhumal had announced a change in the schedule of the Hamir Utsav because Hamirpur district was formed on September 1, 1972.

Hamirpur Deputy Commissioner Ashish Singhmar has confirmed the changed schedule of the utsav.

He said, “As the rainy season continues till September and the rains had spoiled the celebrations in the past, it has been decided to hold the Hamir Utsav from November 1 to 3.

Shimla, August 1
The enactment of various laws and setting up independent commissions to protect the rights of the child has so far not yielded the desired results, asserts Vinod Kumar Tikoo, member, National Commission for Protection of Child Rights, who was in the city to monitor the situation in the hill state.

"There is no state which can be described as the best or the worst as there are huge gaps in one area or the other and some progress made here and there. The country has still a long way to go on this front," he said, underlining that requisite facilities had not been provided in schools in accordance with the Right to Education.

The school dropout rate in the case of the girl child was still higher and separate toilets were built for them. Most schools lacked special educators for teaching the disabled and also did not have had a boundary wall.

Every state was required to set up a commission for the protection of child rights. So far only 23 states had done this and Himachal Pradesh was yet to set up one.

People, government agencies and even NGOs were unaware of the law enacted to prevent sexual abuse of children. The commission received complaints from across the country and it took it up with the authorities and in case of serious matters, it sent its own team to investigate.

Children going missing was a major issue and it had now been made mandatory for the police to register an FIR and a police officer could be penalised if he refused to do so. As per a study conducted by an NGO, over 40,000 children went missing daily in the country and the reported figure for such cases was 13,000 per day for the last year.

There had been no focus on the rights of children all these years, perhaps due to the fact that they did not have the voting right. Things were changing now and they were now being recognised as a national asset. The effort was to ensure that every child went to school and no child was engaged in labour. There were 3,900 cases of child labour in Himachal and he had sought report from the government on their status.

The states had also been asked to create special juvenile protection units in each district and set up special child courts for speedy justice to the victims.

Nurpur, August 1
The Fisheries Department has lifted the ban on catching fish from the Pong Dam reservoir, in the foothills of the Kangra valley, from yesterday. The ban on fishing had been imposed for two months from June 1 due to fish breeding season in the reservoir. Fish from the reservoir will be available in the markets from Thursday onward.

According to information, as many as 15 fishery societies, registered by the Fisheries Department, are restricted from catching fish for two months every year. Besides the reservoir, the department also imposes a ban on fishing in rivers, khads and streams during the breeding season.

The department also provides a closing season assistance of Rs 1,200 to every licence holder fisherman every year. But this year, the disbursement of this financial assistance has been delayed, which has led to resentment among beneficiaries.

Gurcharan Singh, Director, Fisheries Department, said the disbursement of financial assistance to the fishermen had been delayed due to the changes made in the policy by the Government of India, which had separated Scheduled Castes and general categories. “The assistance of Rs 1,200 is contributed jointly by the state and Central governments and the beneficiary. Beneficiaries are likely to get their due amount within one or two weeks,” he added.

Solan, August 1
The Solan police registered a case against a local builder under the Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act for damaging a public road leading to a populated colony near the Jawahar Park area of the town. According to the complaint submitted to the police by the Solan Municipal Committee, builder Om Sahni had damaged a stretch of about 300-metre road providing access to hundreds of people living near area.

Since the land belongs to the local municipal committee, a complaint was lodged with the police on Tuesday. The public was demanding stern action against the builder.