Shimla, August 17
The National Students Union of India (NSUI), the students wing of the Congress, dominated the elections to the Students Central Association in the state, bagging a majority of the seats in Shimla, Kangra, Una, Solan, Lahaul-Spiti and Sirmour districts. The Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), associated with the BJP, led in Mandi and Kullu districts, while the Student Federation of India (SFI) emerged victorious in the Hamirpur district.

In Shimla, the entire panel of the NSUI emerged victorious at the Centre of Excellence, Sanjauli. Ishan Sharma was elected president, Abhishek Nagta vice-president (VP), Shivani Chauhan general secretary (GS) and Madhu Chauhan joint secretary (JS).

The SFI made a clean sweep in the evening college with Satish bagging the top post, followed by Sonali Kashyap (VP), Devendra Kashyap (GS) and Virender Thakur (JS).

The ABVP won all the four seats at Rajiv Gandhi College, Kotshera, with Sumit president, Ankur-VP, Ankush-GS and Rohit-JS.

The SFI retained its hold at Rajkiya Kanya Maha Vidyalya, winning all the seats, with Payal Tanta clinching the post of president, Pooja-VP, Priyanka Shyam-GS and Priyanka-JS.

The NSUI made a clean sweep at DAV College, Kotkhai, Rajkiya Sanskrit Mahavidyalya, Jangla, Government College, Rampur, and Rajkiya Maha Vidyalaya, Sunni. In Sanskrit College, Phagli, Mohit (SFI) was elected president and the remaining three seats were bagged by the ABVP. At DAV College, Sawra Kuddu, the SFI won the top three seats and the NSUI got the post of joint secretary. The ABVP won all the seats at Government College, Theog, and Government College, Nerwa, and also captured three seats at Government College, Rohru, while the fourth was bagged by the NSUI. At Government College, Anni, the NSUI captured three seats and the ABVP the fourth one.

Dharamsala/Una: The NSUI swept the student polls in colleges of Kangra district. The ABVP could manage to retain just Dharamsala Government College and Dhaliara Government College. At Dharamsala Government College, Aditya (ABVP) was elected president. The Regional Centre of HPU at Dharamsala was, however, dominated by the NSUI. The party won all the four seats of students’ body in regional centre. Here, Anuj (NSUI) was elected president.

At Shahpur, Bagwan Government Colleges, Nagrota, and DAV College, Kangra, the NSUI won the entire panel. At Pandit Sant Ram Government College, Baijnath, three seats of the students’ panel were won by the ABVP and one by the SFI. At Thural, Maura and Jaisinghpur government colleges, the NSUI won the entire panels. At Mandmiani College and Nurpur Government College, the ABVP won the entire panel. In Nurpur, recounting of votes was done.

In Una district, the NSUI and the SFI jointly broke the citadel of the ABVP at SVSD College, Bhatoli. The NSUI and the SFI won the entire panel at Bhatoli, the aided college. At government colleges of Una and Amb, the NSUI won the entire panel. At Bangana College, however, the ABVP won three seats and the NSUI one. At Dhaulatpur Government College, the NSUI won all the four seats.

Hamirpur: The SFI candidates swept a majority of the seats in Hamirpur, relegating the previous year’s winner ABVP to the second position, and the NSUI to one.

The SFI candidates won all four posts in Hamirpur, Badsar and three posts at Sujanpur and Nadaun colleges. The ABVP won all four posts at Bhoranj College and three posts at Chakmoh College. In Hamirpur Government Post Graduate College, SFI candidates Rajan, Somin, Sagar and Amit won the posts of president, VP, GS and JS, respectively. SFI candidates Vinod Kumar, Watan Singh, Usha Rani and Arvind Kumar won at Badsar College, while Pankaj, Priyanka and Payal (SFI) won three seats and Madhu Bala (ABVP) won the post of JS at Sujanpur College.

At Nadaun college, Ajay, Rajat and Sunny Kumar (SFI) and Ankush Kaundal (NSUI) won.

Rohit, Shweta, Jiwan and Deepak of the ABVP won at Bhoranj College and Lalita, Ankit and Gaurav at BBN College, Chakmoh. Counting for the post of president has been stayed by a court here.

Solan: The NSUI reigned supreme at Sirmour where it won12 seats in 7 colleges, the ABVP was second bagging 10 seats and the SFI third with 5 seats. The NSUI swept the entire panel at Government Degree College (GDC), Shillai, while the ABVP got all four seats in GDC, Sangrah.

At GDC, Nahan, the SFI won two seats, the NSUI and the ABVP one seat each. The NSUI bagged three seats in GDC, Paonta Sahib, while one seat was bagged by the Youth Brigade. At GDC, Rajgarh, the NSUI bagged three seats and the ABVP one. In GDC, Haripur, the SFI bagged three seats, the NSUI one. At Nahan Sanskrit College, the ABVP got the entire panel of four seats.

In the Nalagarh Degree College, the NSUI won three of the four seats while one seat was bagged by the ABVP.

Mandi/Kullu: The ABVP won 21 seats, while the NSUI came second by winning 12 seats in 11 colleges. The SFI won 11 seats in 11 colleges. The ABVP swept polls in four colleges - Government College, Basa, Dharampur, Lambathatch and MLSM College, Sundarnagar. The NSUI won three seats at Government Vallabh College, Mandi. The NSUI panel was Narender (president), Dimple-JS, Komal-GS, while Gitanjali (ABVP) -VP.

The NSUI swept poll at Paddar and a private college in Rewalsar, winning all the four seats. The SFI at Joginderngar and Sarkaghat colleges won all the four seats. The SFI won three seats at Karsog and the ABVP one. The ABVP won three seats at Sanskrit College, Sundarnagar, the NSUI one.

In Kullu district, the ABVP won 10 seats, the NSUI four and the SFI two in four government degree colleges. The ABVP penal swept polls in Degree College, Haripur, while the NSUI won three seats in Degree College, Anni. The ABVP won three seats at Degree College, Kullu, while the post of general secretary went to the SFI.

The ABVP panel - Raj Kumar Soni (president), Pinki Sood-VP, Raj Kiran-JS won the polls at the Degree College, Kullu. The general secretary seat was won by Roshan Lal (SFI). In the Government Degree College, Banjar, the ABVP won two posts: Rajiv Kishore-VP, Dinesh-JS. SFI candidate Mahender Singh won the post of president, Rakesh Kumar (NSUI)-GS.

The NSUI panel swept the Government Degree College, Kukumseri, in Lahaul-Spiti district.

Shimla, August 17
The SFI retained its hold, making a clean sweep of all the four seats in the election to the Students Central Association of the Himachal Pradesh University campus today.

Its candidate Rajan Harta defeated his nearest rival Navneet Kaushal (ABVP) by a margin of 193 to capture the post of president.

Gopal Singh (SFI) was elected vice-president who defeated his nearest rival Babu Ram (ABVP) by 5 votes. Piyush Sewal (SFI) trounced Naveen Saklani (ABVP) by a margin of 247 votes to win the post of secretary.

The SFI had made a clean sweep of all the seats last year also and won with huge margins. However, this year, the margins have come down significantly.

Gramphu/Kaza, August 17
The 217-km Gramphu-Kaza-Sumdoh road, a class-9 road declared a national highway about three years ago, runs into potholes, craters, boulders and pools of waters and debris that have stranded over 500 people, including tourists, for the last three days between Dorni Nullah and Chatru.

About 50 trucks, loaded with peas from the Spiti valley, have remained stranded at Chatru for the last three days, rued Ringzing, a farmer from Kaza. Ramesh, a hotelier from Kaza, said, “The Dorni Nullah has washed away the road at three different points. Huge debris has been heaped on the roadside and taxis are coming back from there.”

Spiti sub-division remains cut off from the rest of the world from July as the Gramphu-Spiti road and National Highway-22 remain blocked for hours or days together at Malling, near Nako, in upper Kinnaur district.

The 8-km road between Gramphu and Chatru, between Batal and Chota Dhara on the Spiti road and the 60-m Malling road have become hazardous for travellers.

The Border Roads Organisation (BRO) has not even removed a boulder after it cleared the snow in June. The work of widening the road is yet to start.

The BRO blames it on the lack of forest clearance, awaited from the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF), for diversion of forest land for the road. “It is a class-9 road with 6 m acquired width and we need 24-m width for double lane”, the engineers added.

There are no labourers and machines deployed by the BRO, which had taken over the road from the HP PWD three years ago.

Tourist operators, taxi drivers and commuters claim they themselves had to clear debris from the road wherever they got struck. The condition of the road, on the way from Gramphu, Chatru, Chhota Dhara, Batal and the 15,000-ft-high Kunjam Pass is worsening day by day, they resented.

From Kunjam Pass through Losar, Rangrik and Kaza, the road remains in a poor condition even in the absence of rains in the cold and dry desert of Spiti.

The PWD, which used to maintain the road, has virtually dumped crores of rupees for its maintenance and tarring over the years, but its condition became worse, allege residents of Spiti.

Gramphu is, in fact, a junction point for the Manali-Leh highway and Gramphu-Sumdoh highway is a link with National Highway-22, called the Hindustan-Tibet highway, at Sumdoh.

The BRO had taken over the Grambhu-Sumdoh and Tandi-Sansari Nullah highway from the PWD to provide an all-weather connectivity within the Lahaul-Spiti district and Pangi sub-division of Chamba district and to increase the movement of the Army in the border areas.

“The BRO has not moved the case for the diversion of the forest land on the Grambhu-Sumdoh road so far,” said HL Rana, DFO, Lahaul-division.

BRO commander Yogesh Nayyar said they were on the job as they had submitted road estimates for clearance. “But we clear the debris whenever the road is blocked,” he added.

Shimla, August 17
Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh here today launched a website for the Pre-World Cup Paragliding Championship-2013 to be held from October 24 to 30 at Bir-Billing in Kangra. He said it was a matter of pride that the Paragliding World Cup Association had given approval to organise the paragliding championship in India for which the government would extend all assistance.

The Bir-Billing site in the Dhauladhar ranges had emerged as one of the top five paragliding sites in the world. It started with hang-gliding introduced in 1984 by Israeli Pilots at the site and thereafter, it was replaced by paragliding in 1992 by French pilots.

The Chief Minister said the state government was laying emphasis on developing sports infrastructure. In order to motivate various sports, cash prizes had also been doubled.

The Chief Minister said this year the championship would be held in a joint collaboration of the state Tourism Department and the Billing Paragliding Association (BPA) in which over 400 world class paragliders were expected and about 100 top pilots would take part in the event.

Urban Development Minister and president of BPA Sudhir Sharma said efforts would be made to organise the championship as a mega-event. International scorer Ulric Jessop would be the scorer-cum-observer for the championship and India’s best pilot Debu Chawdhary, who is at the 52nd place in the world ranking, would be the technical event meet director.

Sudhir Sharma said the overall winner would be awarded a cash prize of Rs 2.50 lakh, while cash prizes of Rs 2 lakh and Rs 1.50 lakh would be given to the first and second runners-up, respectively. In the Indian Class category, Rs 1.10 lakh, Rs 90,000 and Rs 70,000 would be given to the persons attaining the first, second and third positions, respectively. In the Women Class and Sports Class categories, the cash prizes of Rs 75,000, Rs 65,000 and Rs 55,000 would be given to the first, second and third, respectively, while the best newcomer would be awarded a cash prize of Rs 40,000.

Palampur, August 17
Brij Bihari Lal Butail, Speaker, state Assembly, recently asked officials of the Welfare Department to cover needy widows and old persons under the old-age and widow pension scheme of the state government. He set a time-frame of six months to cover all eligible persons under this programme and said pensions must reach their doorsteps.

Butail, who was distributing cheques to the poor for the construction of houses under the Indira Awas Yojna (IAY) here in the evening, said the Congress government in Himachal Pradesh was committed to the welfare of the poor and a special programme had been launched under the IAY to grant Rs 75,000 to every houseless person for the construction of a house.

He asked the Block Development Officer and other panchayat representatives to personally review such programmes. He said there was no shortage of funds for such public welfare schemes.

Solan, August 17
With a spurt in cases of crime against women in the Baddi-Barotiwala-Nalagarh (BBN) industrial area, a sense of insecurity is prevailing among residents as police presence appears to have become scarce.

In the last about one week at least two cases of women having been molested right in front of their houses were reported. The police has failed to trace the miscreants as they fled immediately after committing the crime.

The state government had provided an additional reserve force of 25 policemen for the BBN a few months ago, thus taking the strength of those deployed here to 250. Police officials, however, feel that even this strength is not sufficient to man the entire area, and a request has been made to provide as many as 125 more policemen.

Superintendent of Police, Baddi, S Arul Kumar, when quizzed said the pradhans of local panchayats had been alerted to inform the police immediately in case miscreants were found in their respective areas indulging in crimes.

He said though no gang of miscreants had been found operating in the BBN, the police was on an alert. Rumours about a gang indulging in various crimes were rife in the BBN, he added. With the BBN area sharing a porous border with Haryana and Punjab and a population of more than 1.5 lakh migrant labourers residing here, manning the area had become an arduous task.

The BBN area had been made a new police district a few years ago to ensure effective policing. Apart from one SP, two DSPs were also placed here to ensure maintenance of law and order.

Crime had, however, failed to be checked.

Mandi, August 17
Members of the Makaan Adhikar Sangharsh Samiti (MASS) representing the CPM, CPI, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), Himachal Lokhit Party (HLP) and 12 other organisations recently demanded the resignation of Mandi Sadar MLA and Rural Development Minister Anil Sharma and dissolution of the Mandi Municipal Council (MC) for its “failure to protect Dalits and landless urban poor whose houses were demolished" in an ongoing demolition drive.

They said the council and government agencies had failed to plead their case before the High Court (HC) in a befitting manner.

Raising anti-Congress and anti-Mandi MC slogans, the members held a protest march. They asked the government to file a fresh affidavit in the HC to plead the case of Dalits, sweepers and landless poor, whose houses built under the Indira Awas and other schemes over 30 years ago, faced demolition because of the court's order.

CPM leader Bhupender Singh, CPI's Des Raj, AAP’s Des Raj Sharma, HLP's Sarita Handa and Landless Bhumi Adhikar Manch's Sukh Dev Premi addressed the protesters. They asked the government to provide them land and houses with funds and to regularise their structures. They said an inquiry should be conducted in this regard and erring officials, including those of the MC, the IPH and the electricity board, should be penalised.

Though the bandh got a partial response, representatives of the Nagrik Adhikar Manch, Landless Land Rights Manch, Safai Karamchari Union, Raddi-faddi Unions, Taxi Tempo Unions, Ravidas Sabha, Namdhari Satsang and Mahajan Sabha and some other NGOs participated in the protest.

Meanwhile, MC officials said the protesters were indulging in politicking as they should have moved the court to seek justice if they thought the civic body was wrong. They said the water and electricity connections had not been issued by the council but by the IPH and the HPSEB.

Palampur, August 17
Himachal Pradesh Agriculture University (HPAU) held its anti-ragging committee meeting under the chairmanship of Vice-Chancellor (VC) KK Katoch here today.

The anti-ragging committee comprises university officers, sub-divisional officers from Palampur, parents, newly-admitted students of various classes, hostel prefects, representatives of non-teaching unions and media. All the committee members resolved to continue with the tradition of a ragging-free campus during the current academic session.

The Vice-Chancellor said all possible efforts had been taken to curb the menace of ragging. He said strictest possible action would be taken against defaulters. He talked of the constitution of a monitoring cell and an anti-ragging squad, adding that keeping in view a large number of girl students, for the first time an anti-ragging women squad had been formed. Besides, a high-power committee for promoting and monitoring interaction among senior and fresh students had also been constituted.

He said all efforts would be made to keep students engaged in sports and cultural activities.

DSP Navdeep Singh said the police would join hands with the university to make students aware about the Anti-ragging Act.

Registrar Ashwani Chaudhry, Students’ Welfare Officer YS Paul, Dean of the College of Agriculture PK Sharma, Dean of the College of Home Sciences Rekha Malhotra, Dean of the PG Kamlesh Singh, Dean of the College of Animal and Veterinary Sciences C Varhney and some of the students and parents also conveyed their views on the occasion.

Dharamsala, August 17
Former Chief Minister and Rajya Sabha member Shanta Kumar today released a book, ‘Hindi Sahitya Ka Itihaas’, authored by renowned Hindi writers Sushil Kumar Phull and Ashu Jethi Phull today.

Rajya Sabha MP Shanta Kumar (centre) releases ‘Hindi Sahitya Ka Itihaas’, at Palampur on Saturday. Photo: Kamaljeet

Addressing the gathering, Shanta said Himachal’s contribution to Hindi literature had been motivating. Hindi had not been recognised in true spirit as the language of the nation.

He said Sushil’s contribution to Hindi fiction had been commendable.

Speaking on the occasion, Sushil said though Hindi was our national language and was taught in almost all universities and colleges across the country, no concerted efforts were being made to keep readers abreast of the latest achievements and trends in Hindi literature.

He said there was a tradition in English and other languages as updated information in the form of history of English language and literature are published time to time.

“But this trend is missing in Hindi. For many years, there has been no History of Hindi literature published,” Dr Sushil Kumar Phull said.

The book presents the history of Hindi literature right from 769 to 2012. It has been published by Dorling Kindersley Private India Limited (Pearson Education). It contains 427 pages and has been divided into 25 chapters.

Nurpur, August 17
Hundreds of Pong Dam oustees, who have been facing mental agony over the past four decades as they were not rehabilitated in Rajasthan nor allotted land there, are now keeping their fingers crossed for getting ownership rights of shamlat land in Kangra district, where they have built their houses.

The state government, through the Deputy Secretary (Revenue), has directed Nurpur SDM Ashwani Sood to prepare a detailed report of the shamlat land occupied by the Pong Dam oustees in Nurpur subdivision. The SDM was also asked to give his comments on conferring land ownership rights to them.

Major Onkar Singh Guleria (retd), an oustee and a resident of Jachh village, near here, had submitted a petition to Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh in this connection. He had pleaded the grant of land ownership rights to the oustees who had occupied shamlat land in Kangra district. He had also highlighted the plight of those who could not take possession of land allotted to them in Rajasthan.

SDM Ashwani Sood said after receiving the direction from the state government, he had asked the revenue field staff to prepare a detailed report of the shamlat land occupied by the oustees in the area.

Palampur, August 17
Chief Parliamentary Secretary (CPS) Jagjivan Pal, who also holds the portfolio of the Irrigation and Public Health Department, said during the current financial year, Rs 1,483 crore would be spent on different irrigation and water supply schemes in the state.

CPS Jagjivan Pal lays the foundation stone of a community centre at Raipur village on Saturday. Photo: Ravinder Sood

Addressing mediapersons at Raipur village, 6 km from here, today, Pal said the state government had made a comprehensive plan for the augmentation of all existing water supply schemes in the state to meet the shortage of potable water, particularly during summers.

Officers of the IPH Department had been directed to submit necessary DPRs so that funds were arranged, he added.

Pal said in the Sulaha constituency, 10 new tube wells would be installed at a cost of Rs 1.5 crore. Besides, Rs 138 crore had also been sanctioned for the irrigation schemes which would irrigate 3,000 hectares of land. He said the department had planned to drill over 1,000 new motorised hand pumps in the state in the current financial year which would be connected with the existing drinking water supply schemes to enhance the supply of water.

There would be no compromise on the quality of civil and mechanical works being executed by the department, he added. Pal directed the officers of the IPH Department to maintain all norms and standards of construction laid down by the government and utilise public money properly.

Earlier, he laid the foundation stone of a community centre at Raipur village.

Sundernagar, August 17
Janki Dass Dogra, Mandi District Congress Committee senior vice-president and former chairman of the block panchayat samiti, has thanked Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh for declaring Kotali as tehsil in the Mandi Sadar Assembly segment.

While addressing a gathering at the opening of eight-day Nalwar Fair Saigaloo, he said the demand pertaining to the opening of a tehsil at Kotali was pending for a long time. The public at large faced a lot of inconvenience as people had to go to Mandi for all types of work.

He said the Nalwari fair was more than three-decade old and popular among panchayats situated in Sadar tehsil. Kasan gram panchyat had been successfully organising this fair without any support from any agency. He said the animal wealth brought here was serving the need of Kotali tehsil.

Dogra said cattle fairs reflected the hill culture of the state and should be preserved at all costs. He was given a warm welcome by local residents. He also performed a puja of a pair of bullocks during the opening function of the fair.

Kasan gram panchayat president Rita Thakur welcomed the chief guest. She said: “During this eight-day fair, a large number of cattle brought here from various parts of Mandi district is either sold or exchanged. The fair is also gaining popularity with the passage of time.”

Delegates of various mahila mandals presented a cultural programme during the function. Kotli Naib Tehsildar Mitter Dev and various representatives of the panchyati raj institutions were also present on the occasion.