Shimla, September 1
The State Private Educational Institutions Regulatory Commission has issued notices to five private universities for the non-compliance of the admission criteria prescribed by it.

After a scrutiny of details of the admissions in undergraduate engineering courses submitted by 16 private universities, the commission has found that five universities have violated the norms. It has issued notices to APG University, Shoolini University, Manav Bharti University, Baddi University of Emerging Science and Technologies and Sri Sai University. It has asked them to explain why action should not be taken against them for the violations. They have admitted about 350 ineligible candidates, which accounts for more than 10 per cent of the total admissions. The registrars of these universities have been asked to appear before the commission along with the relevant records on September 3.

In contrast, some institutions like ICFAI University, Maharishi Markandeshwar University and IEC University strictly complied with the norms, despite the low percentage of admissions. The commission had approved 6,906 seats in undergraduate programmes for 2013-14, out of which only 3,371 seats (about 48 per cent) have been filled.

Some universities even failed to start the new programmes for which seats were approved. The total number of sanctioned seats for programmes for which admissions was carried out works out to 6,580 and, accordingly, the percentage of seats filled comes to 51 per cent.

It is obvious that the relaxation of admission norms by the government has not helped the private universities to get more students. The universities, which had put pressure on the government to relax norms by doing away with the joint engineering entrance (JEE) examination, have not been able to fill even 50 per cent of seats. On the other hand Jaypee University of Information and Technology (JUIT), Waknaghat, and Chitkara University, Baddi, which are filling seats on the basis of JEE exam have the highest 90 per cent of the seats filled.

The flip side of indiscriminate opening of private university has been exposed. The hard fact is that there are not enough students in the state to justify the existence of 16 private universities and 17 engineering colleges, as about 16,000 non-medical students qualify the Class 12 exam annually.

The only way to get students from outside the state is to fill the seats through the JEE exam and get approval for courses from the regulatory bodies, which most private universities are avoiding.

Udaipur (Lahaul-Spiti), September 1
The fate of the 400-MW Seli hydropower project on the Chenab here has run into rough weather. Forest Minister Thakur Singh Bharmouri has written to Jayanthi Natrajan, Union Minister for Environment and Forests (MOEF), saying the project "will destroy more than 2 lakh trees in the eco-sensitive zone".

He also blamed the previous BJP government for allowing the project despite objections by the local tribals over a large-scale felling of trees involved in the project in the area.

In the letter, a copy of which is available with The Tribune, the Forest Minister cited memorandums submitted to him by villagers and NGOs opposing the project, which would displace the tribals and submerge a large number of green trees. People of the area were agitating against the project for which the Forest Department had sent the project case for diversion of the forest land to the MOEF, he added.

He said he was not in favour of the project considering the large-scale elimination of trees. "I had the information that about 60,000 green trees will be submerged in the dam. But as per the memorandums submitted by villagers and NGOs opposing the project, over 2 lakh green trees will be removed or submerged. The figure is alarming in an ecologically and geologically fragile zone," he added.

Bharmouri said the memorandums were sent to him and to the MOEF by two NGOs, Lahaul-Spiti Jan Vikas Manch, Udaipur, and Seli Project Sangharsh Samiti (SPSS), Mudgram, Lahaul-Spiti, demanding scrapping of the project. "I am also not in favour of the project," he added categorically in a letter dated July 8, 2013.

Sudershan Thakur, convener, SPSS, said the project should be abandoned as the greenery of Mini Manali and the fertile land from Kuraki and Madgram to Udaipur would be submerged in the dam forever. “The gram sabaha and gram panchayat, Udaipur, have not given an NOC to Moser Baer company, which is executing the project,” he added.

Hira Lal Gaur, general secretary, Lahaul-Spiti Jan Vikas Manch, said in his letter to the President and the MOEF that considering the grievances, the MOEF should enforce the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980, the Environmental (Protection) Act, 1986, the Scheduled Tribes and Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006, and other laws that had been passed by the Parliament to save the area from eco-disaster, rejecting proposal for the diversion of forest land out rightly.

On the other hand, SK Khare, head of the hydropower, Moser Baer projects, said they had proposed the laying of a concrete wall along the dam site to save the submergence of trees around the Mini Manali area.

“The government has allotted us the project and villagers’ fears are exaggerated as not more than 55,000 trees will be affected. The local area development funds under various proposed projects will change the face of the valley for better,”  he claimed.

Chamba, September 1
There are some points along the fragile hills on the Chamba-Bharmour highway that can trigger landslides. Even a spell of rain can put at risk the vehicles packed with Manimahesh pilgrims, moving on the highway.

One such vulnerable site is located at nearby Rajera village on the Chamba-Bharmour highway.

This risky point is alongside the brook and below flows the Ravi amid the hills.

Officials, however, maintained that these points had already been identified and restoration work would be undertaken there as early as possible. 

Shimla, September 1
Welcoming the inquiries ordered by the Congress government, Leader of the Opposition Prem Kumar Dhumal lashed out at Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh and said the BJP government had not committed any crime by allotting land for creating sports facilities.

Reacting to the statement of the Chief Minister on action against the guilty of land irregularities, Dhumal said his outburst appeared to be an attempt to influence the inquiries being conducted by the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau.

“It appears that Virbhadra Singh has himself assumed the role of an investigator, a prosecutor and the judge. If everything is to be decided by him then what he is waiting for? I wonder if it is just a publicity stunt at times as evident from the statements being issued by him and some officers of the Bureau,” Dhumal said.

The former Chief Minister asserted that his government had not committed any crime by allotting land for providing sport facilities of international standard to the youth of the state. The infrastructure so created was a public property and did not belong to any one. He reminded Virbhadra about the case in which “the land was transferred in his name and the blame was put on an officer by taking the plea that he was ignorant about the law”.

On the CD case, Dhumal said the Chief Minister had himself asked the Vigilance to enquire into the matter in 2007 and also moved the High Court. He had been blaming the BJP regime time and again for his misdeeds.

He added during the BJP rule, a number of institutions and offices were opened in Hamirpur, including the offices of PWD Chief Engineer, IPH & Electricity, Chief Conservator of Forest, Hotel Management Institute, State Technical University, Career Point University, BEd Colleges, degree colleges and schools. On the contrary, the present government after taking over had immediately shifted the divisional office of HIMUDA, JAICA Project Office and the Police Battalion, Jangleberi.

Shimla, September 1
Member of Parliament (MP) Pratibha Singh met Union Labour and Employment Minister Sis Ram Ola in New Delhi today and requested him to start MBBS classes at ESI Medical College and Hospital at Ner Chowk in Mandi from the next academic session.

She requested him to provide liberal funds for the Rs 1,000-crore Hospital and start admissions for 100 seats from the next academic year. The state was willing to sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Centre so that the upcoming medical college could utilise all equipments, machinery, manpower and infrastructure of the Zonal Hospital, Mandi, for the academic purpose till its own facilities came up.

She urged the minister to set up ESI Hospital and Medical Colleges in Sirmour, Solan, Una and Kangra districts as joint ventures between the Centre and the state.

Sundernagar, September 1
Bhupinder Mahajan, newly elected president of the Rotary Club, Sundernagar, while taking over the charge of the unit at a function, said the Rotary International Club was committed to the service of mankind since it was founded in 1905.

He said the club would open a medical testing laboratory and install a digital X-ray plant so that the locals could get these facilities on subsidised rates.

He was decorated with a collar band by Vinod Sharma, governor of Rotary Club, Hamirpur. Officer-bearers and presidents of other rotary clubs were also present on the occasion.

While addressing the gathering, Vinod Sharma said the club had contributed a lot in the eradication of polio in the country in the past and was still continuing this movement. He said in Himachal, rotary clubs were concentrating on disaster management. The clubs had decided to launch programmes related to preparedness and awareness regarding earthquakes, he added. 

Shimla, September 1
Expressing concern over the fast deteriorating financial position of the state power utility, the State Electricity Board Employees Union has urged Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh to take immediate measures to save the board from collapse.

The union drew the attention of the Chief Minister towards the tough situation which the board was facing and said filling vacancies caused by superannuation of employees, to maintain services to the ever-increasing number of power consumers and to devise a proper mechanism to ensure continuous disbursal of pension to 16,000 pensioners were the issues which needed an immediate attention.

Hira Lal Verma, general secretary of the union, said the previous government’s decision to sell the share (7.19 per cent) in BBMB projects to the board on an average power procurement price should be reviewed.

He urged the government to take necessary steps to settle payment of Rs 468 crore received from hydropower companies on account of survey and investigation projects. Further, to ensure continuous disbursal of pension, gratuity and other social security, arrears of enhanced share in BBMB projects should be deposited in the HPSEBL Employees Pension Corpus, he said.

He said in view of the drastic decrease in the strength of staff and increase in the number of consumers, recruitments at lower level to fill posts of technical and commercial staff should be carried out.

Over 500 pending cases of appointment on compassionate grounds should be provided to kins of employees, who expired while in service, he added.

Dharamsala, September 1
Conservationists, who raised voice against the killing of two leopards in Mandi by the hunter authorised by the Wildlife Department of the state, have alleged that the orders were fudged by certain officials of the department to cover up their mistake.

A wildlife activist while talking to The Tribune said the blog of Nawab Shafath Ali Khan revealed the entire truth regarding the matter. A study of the blog in which the Nawab boasted of his recent killing of the “man-eater” leopard in Himachal, revealed that he had also entered the two letters issued to him by the DFO, Nachan Division, in Mandi district for capturing or killing the “man-eater” leopard. The first letter for the killing or capturing of the leopard, which was killed on August 11, was issued to the Nawab on August 7.

The first letter that he has posted on his blog was issued to him by the DFO, Nachan, on August 7. In the letter, the DFO said the leopard had turned man-eater in the Thunag area falling in the Janjehli forest division, killing three persons in the vicinity of the area.

However, till August 7, the leopard had allegedly killed two women on July 18 and 24. The man, Kashmir Singh, was killed on August 10, three days after the letter was issued to the Nawab.

The conservationist, who had noted the anomaly, said how the DFO predicted the third killing by the “man-eater” leopard on August 7 through a letter to the Nawab, whereas it actually happened on August 10. This clearly indicates that the letter was issued to cover up the killing of the first leopard on August 11.

The second letter to the Nawab for killing the second “man-eater” leopard was issued by the DFO on August 16 after which it was also killed.

Rajeshwar Negi, a member of the National Wildlife Advisory Board of India, also alleged that from the letters posted by the Nawab on his blog it seemed that the letter issued to him on August 7 was constructed later to justify the killing of an innocent leopard on August 11.

Harshwardhan Kathuria, Conservator, Forest Division, said that the date on the letter might be a clerical error.

He said he would check the records and make a detailed comment over the matter later. He said the real order for capturing or killing of the man-eater leopard was issued on July 25 by the Chief Wildlife warden. At that time, only two women had been killed by the man-eater leopard.

Mandi, September 1
Four youth, including a girl, from Fatehgarh Sahib and Gurdaspur, were arrested with fake Indian currency amounting to Rs 72,500 at Pandoh near here today. It is the second case involving youth in the smuggling of fake Indian currency this year.

They were produced before the judicial magistrate and sent in police remand till September 7.

The accused were identified as Sandeep Singh, Yudhvir Singh (both from Fatehgarh Sahib) and Amandeep Singh from Gurdaspur and a girl from Ropar. They were on their way from Punjab to Manali in a Bolero when they were nabbed by the police. The police said Amandeep claimed he was an unemployed MPEd degree holder, while the rest engineering students.

The police acted on the tip-off from Sundernagar where they had stopped for a meal and paid the bill with the fake currency. They were carrying more Rs 1 lakh fake currency which they were spending on the way, the police claimed.

Though the police has yet to verify the exact amount and the origin of the fake currency, the four accused admitted that they had bought it from Patiala.

DSP (Headquarters) Ashish Sharma said: “The search for the supplier of the fake currency is on.”

It was the second case involving the students using fake currency since July this year. Earlier, the police had arrested Deepak Sharma of Kamali, Ghumarwin, and Tarun Thakur of Damrog, Solan, and recovered Rs 36,500 from them last July.

Nurpur, September 1
The Kangra police, which conducted a raid through a joint team of the CIA, Special Investigation Unit and the Human Trafficking Wing of the police at a hotel on the Bodh-Chakki Dhar Defence road here last evening, rescued three women, two hailing from Amritsar (Punjab) and one from West Bengal. Initially, the police had detained four women and four men for preliminary investigations. However, the hotel manager fled during the raid.

Mohit Chawla, Additional SP, Kangra, said following a tip-off, the police conducted the raid at the hotel. He said the police had registered a case under Sections 3, 4, and 5 of the Immoral Trafficking Act and started verification of addresses given by the rescued women.

He said the medical examination of the women had been conducted. "The police will verify whether these women had been dragged into prostitution forcibly or they voluntary adopted it. For this purpose, they were produced in the court this evening and taken to police remand," he said.

The ASP said the police would also track the kingpin of immoral trafficking and nab the absconded hotel manager.

According to information, kingpins of immoral trafficking were active in supplying girls in a number of hotels in the border area of Kangra district for the past some time.

Bilaspur, September 1
Rajiv Bhardwaj, District and Sessions Judge, here has sentenced a youth Sumit Kumar of Jamoi village in Jhandutta tehsil to undergo rigorous imprisonment (RI) for seven years and an additional fine of Rs 10,000 for kidnapping and raping a minor schoolgirl under a false promise of marrying her. In case of the default in the payment of fine, he would have to undergo an additional jail of one year.

Earlier, District Attorney Shamsher Singh Kaushal told the court that Sumit had kidnapped the minor on May 23, 2012, and carried her to Nalagarh and commited the crime there.

Her parents then lodged an FIR at the Bilaspur Sadar police station. The police had recovered the girl and Sumit from Nalagarh in the presence of her relatives. 

Thatchi (Mandi), September 1
Apple farmers are facing hardship in transporting the fruit to markets as rain and landslides on the 15-km Thath-Didar and 20-km Bali Chowki-Sudhrani-Thatta roads in the Seraj block have rendered the road unmotorable for the last one week.

Farmers can be seen carrying apple cartons and baskets on their backs for kilometres and crossing hazardous nullahs in the Thatchi-Didar belt daily. The fruit is dropping as rain has hampered plucking, says Chandramani of the Thatchi belt.

The fruit gets damaged due to rough handling as farmers have to walk on foot and the fruit ripens as well. The 15-km Thatchi-Didar road beyond Thatchi is muddy and not motorable, says Damodar of Didar village.

The Public Works Department (PWD) has opened the road using a JCB machine, but the road is not motorable for loaded vehicles because of slush and mud even as the apple season is at its peak. The main local markets for farmers of Seraj are at are Takoli and Mandi.

Commission agents continue to fleece growers by making a weight cut of three kg on each crate sold on the grounds that an empty crate weighs artwo kg even though it actually weighs 800 g, say Daleep Singh and Sant Ram, representatives of the Seraj Apple Growers Association.

The story is no different in Thatta, Kalnidhar and Jahal khad area in the Bali Chowki tehsil and in Baga Chanogi, Thatchadhar and Lambathach in the mid-belt of the Seraj block. The five-km road is blocked at Khanidhar, cutting off 12 villages in the Thatta panchayat.

Big rocks on the road need blasting, but the PWD has not cleared the road about four km beyond Sudhrani so far, rue villagers. PWD Executive Engineer of Gohar KK Sharma says the roads have been restored, but are kutcha roads where rain continues to trigger landslides.

Palampur, September 1
In yet another case of bogus demand drafts, the local branch of Kangra Central Cooperative Bank has been cheated of Rs 14 lakh. The culprits operating from Palwal (Haryana) have managed to get the money transferred to their accounts through tampered demand drafts.

The fact came to light when the bank ordered a scrutiny of its records of July and August and detected the forged demand drafts of Rs 6,90,000.

A senior officer of the bank said the scrutiny of the records revealed that a gang operating from Haryana had purchased two demand drafts of Rs 70 each from Himachal Pradesh Cooperative Bank branches in Sirmour district. The accused tampered with both the drafts and converted the figures from Rs 70 to Rs 7,00,000.

Later, they presented both the drafts in the local branch of KCC Bank where the forged amount was transferred to their accounts on July 27 and August 3, respectively. The accused also withdrew the amount from their accounts immediately.

On the complaint of KCC Bank, the local police has registered a case of cheating and forgery against the accused. However, no arrest has been made so far.

Earlier a similar case was registered at the Baijnath police station. Till date, four cases of bogus demand draft have come to the notice of the bank.

The police has alerted all banks in the state to be careful before making any payments against the demand drafts, particularly issued from the cooperative banks of the state or outside, since the electronic system in these banks have many loopholes and the gang members were taking benefits of the same.

Baddi, September 1
Dr GN Singh, Drug Controller General of India (DCGI), said they would consider the opening of the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) in various countries to help monitor the quality of drugs being supplied to India.

Giving relief to drug manufacturers, he announced the granting of an additional one-month time to manufacturers to submit details of efficacy and clinical trials of fixed dose combinations (FDCs) as the earlier deadline had expired on August 30 and manufacturers were yet to fulfil the new formalities.

He was addressing the Federation of Pharmaceutical Entrepreneurs and Himachal Drug Manufacturers Association (HDMA) at Baddi last evening.

Conceding to the demand of the drug manufacturers, the DCGI said the Chandigarh-based office of the CDSCO would be converted into a full-fledged office and this would save manufacturers of Himachal, Uttarakhand, Jammu and Kashmir, etc, from going to Delhi.

While addressing the manufacturers, Dr Singh urged them not to go to court for settling issues where they differed from the government but suggested that such issues could be settled amicably through talks as it created confusion about the Indian regulatory system in multinational companies.

Earlier, it was pointed out by manufacturers that several new regulations issued by government were creating undue hassles and the industry was not taken into confidence prior to their issuance. This was adversely affecting the exports and the investors were forced to take legal recourse.

He said there would be no compromise on quality and out of 1.37 lakh samples drawn by the CDSCOs in the last three years from across the country, as many as 6,500 were found not to be of standard quality while 345 were found to be spurious. He urged the manufacturers not to compromise on quality and said they were preparing a strategy to strengthen drug testing labs in all the states.

Dr Singh said they were chalking out a new strategy to conduct drug sampling and this would ensure that no state was unduly targeted.

Drug Controller Navneet Marwaha urged the DCGI to give liberal financial support to the state and consider its proposals worth Rs 70 crore in the 90:10 ratio to help strengthen the regulatory mechanism.

Drug Controller Navneet Marwaha, RC Juneja, chairman, FOPE, Sanjay Guleria, president, HDMA, SL Singla, general secretary, HDMA, Vinod Gupta, president, Baghat Drug Manufacturers, and others were also present on the occasion.

Nurpur, September 1
The state government’s decision to close a workshop of the Himachal Road Transport Corporation (HRTC), along with two other workshops at Tara Devi and Mandi, has angered locals leaders here. The workshop was set up at Jassur in January 1989 with the efforts of late minister Sat Mahajan.

Resentment is brewing among people of the area as well following the statement of Transport Minister GS Bali in this connection in the Assembly on Friday.

The state government has asked 28 employees deployed in the workshop to submit their options for their place of new posting. Former Transport Minister Kishan Kapoor said the decision was against Kangra district, which had played a big role in forming the Virbhadra Singh government by electing maximum MLAs across the state.

“The Congress government is bent upon winding up the public sector undertaking. Ministers from Kangra district and Bali have failed to safeguard the district’s interests,” he lamented.

Former MLA Rakesh Pathania alleged that after closing a unit of the agro-industries corporation, Nurpur Silk Factory, and shelving the establishment of disaster management battalion, the government had given another setback to lower Kangra. He alleged that local MLA Ajay Mahajan had failed badly to protect the interests of the area. “The way the MLA is failing in protecting local interests reflects his weak representation before his party’s own government. This is just beginning of political setbacks to the area, more will follow in the days to come,” he said. Mahajan was not available for comments.

Till a few years ago, chassis of buses of the HRTC, Jammu and Kashmir and Uttarakhand and other departments were fabricated in the workshop. The Dhumal government had tried to modernise it. Kishan Kapoor, along with HRTC’s top technocrats, had toured Goa and reviewed its bus-body building technology, trained its technical staff and even set up modern machines of seat cutting and bending on the Goa pattern.

Bilaspur, September 1
Led by president Deeksha Kumari, vice-president Ankit Chandel and other office-bearers of the recently elected Students Central Association (SCA), students of Government Degree College, Jhandutta, took out a demonstration at Jhandutta bazaar, 55 km from here, yesterday and demanded an immediate completion of the construction work of their college building.

Students presented a memorandum through tehsildar Daman Chand to be forwarded to the government and the Education Department detailing their difficulties in this matter.

They said students’ strength there had now gone up to 255 this year and only six rooms had been provided for the college from the Government Senior Secondary School building. Of these, some rooms were being used by the staff, Principal and office.

They said the work of construction of the building of their college was started with a new building of Government Degree College, Jukhala, where now classes were being held for the last two years, however, the Jhandutta building was still incomplete. This work had been going on for the last six years and now it had stopped totally, they said. They said they had not even been provided with lavatory facility in the college.

Palampur, September 1
Despite the fact that the Government of India has lowered the prices of over 400 drugs by putting these in the controlled price medicines category, patients are yet to benefit from it.

These medicines are yet to reach consumers. Prices of some of the medicines have come down by 50 to 70 per cent. Information said the main objective of the Government of India is to make these drugs available at cheaper rates.

Despite the best efforts of the government, controlled drugs are not available in the market, as wholesalers are not lifting their stocks from drug manufacturers. The margin of profit in these drugs has been reduced from 500 per cent to 10-20 per cent.

Besides, at government hospitals, no doctor has been prescribing these drugs to the patients because pharma companies have stopped paying them commission or other incentives on the sale of these drugs. At the Palampur Civil Hospital, doctors have not been prescribing controlled drugs to the patients for the same reason.

This correspondent has in his possession a number of prescription slips of doctors in which they have prescribed only decontrolled drugs that are very costly. The indoor record of the hospital also established that doctors were prescribing the controlled drugs cheaper by 60 to 70 per cent as compared to the decontrolled drugs.

A senior official of the state Health Department admitted that patients visiting government hospitals were the worst-hit as they had not been getting the benefit of reduction in the prices of drugs by the government. Doctors are had not been prescribing these drugs because of their vested interest.

He said the state government and vigilance agencies should initiate action against the corrupt doctors on the basis of the indoor records of the hospitals. The Health Department would extend full cooperation to crack this racket to save the poor patients, he added.

Solan, September 1
Despite repeated strike by officials against the mining mafia in the bordering areas of the state, illegal mining continues unabated with several cases coming to the fore almost every day.

The problem is particularly being experienced in the bordering areas of the state, including Baddi-Barotiwala-Nalagarh (BBN), Kala Amb and Paonta Sahib areas.

Though flying squads comprising officials of various departments like police, forest, mining, etc, are conducting regular raids to nab those indulging in illegal mining, the activity has been going on unabated.

Yunus Khan, SDM, Nalagarh, who is playing an active role in curbing the activity in the BBN area, said they would adopt a collective approach where officials from the Public Works Department (PWD), Irrigation and Public Health (IPH), Forest, etc, would also be urged to check this activity as they had failed to play an active role in protecting public property like bridges, roads and irrigation schemes, which had been damaged due to illegal mining.

He said all the officials concerned would be asked to step up efforts and check this activity in their particular area so that the illicit activity could be curbed.

The officials of the Forest Department appear to have woken up to check the illegal activity at Nalagarh after being reprimanded by the Forest Minister on Saturday.

Taking the issue of illegal mining in a demarcated protected forest area at Sarsa bridge on the Nalagarh-Ropar state highway seriously, Forest Minister Thakur Singh Bharmouri, who had visited Nalagarh on Saturday, had directed the DFO to take action against those indulging in mining on the forest land and conduct joint raids along with the officials of other departments.

However, the DFO had earlier dithered from taking action against illegal mining on the DPF land despite repeated complaints from the locals.

However, action is awaited from the PWD and the IPH Departments who have been facing maximum damage due to the mining activity with bridges either having been weakened or collapsed due to mining around the structures and scores of water schemes having been damaged.

Though the state government has notified nearly 30 officials from various departments to check illegal mining, a majority of the officials shied away from taking any action as the mining mafia is being shielded by people having “political” clout.

This fact has also been admitted by the Chief Minister in a recent statement. With mining promising easy gains, those wielding political clout not only manage to operate stone crushers but also own tractors, which transport quarry material with ease even crossing the inter-state barriers without any problem. This is leading to a huge revenue loss for the state.