Shimla, October 4
In order to clean the mess in sports bodies, the government may again bring a legislation to ensure transparency and regulate their functioning.

Giving an indication to this effect, Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh said the sports bodies were not functioning in a transparent manner and even the elections were held “clandestinely”, which was not a proper way to run an organisation. “The government has no intention to interfere in their functioning, but it will certainly want that they are managed by properly elected bodies,” he said.

The Congress had enacted the Himachal Pradesh Sports (Registration and Regulation of Association) Act in 2006, but it was repealed by the subsequent BJP regime. If required, the government could revive the old law or bring a new legislation to ensure orderly functioning of the sports bodies, he said.

The “murky” affairs of the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association (HPCA) had been “exposed” and the mess was not confined to it. Other sports associations were not in a good shape, the Chief Minister said. He said his personal view was that politicians should not get involved with sports bodies.

He said the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association (HPCA) headed by former Chief Minister PK Dhumal’s son Anurag Thakur was not being targeted by the government. Cases against the sports body pertained to irregularities in the transfer of land and FIRs had been lodged by the Vigilance Department after an inquiry and going through the facts, he said.

The manner in which an association registered under the societies Act was converted into a company without an approval of the government raised several questions, particularly motive behind the registration of several bodies with the same acronym, HPCA, Virbhadra said.

While the association was registered under the societies Act, the Himalayan Players Cricket Association (HPCA) was registered as a company in Kanpur and another body, the Himachal Players Cricket Association (HPCA), was registered in Chandigarh. The matter was under investigation. The other case in which Anurag and his brother Arun were involved also pertained to an irregular purchase of land allotted to a landless under the “Nau Tor”, he said.

He said in case the land was to be vested in the state, the government would consider its restoration to the owner's widow.

Dharamsala, October 4
A day after registration of two fresh cases against the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association (HPCA) and its president Anurag Thakur, the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau today issued a notice to the latter, asking him to file a reply on the conversion of the sports body from society to company by October 10.

He has been asked to supply the proceeding register of the HPCA society to the bureau. Superintendent of Police (SP) Bimal Gupta said if the HPCA president failed to reply to the notice, they would move court.

Vigilance sources said the record of allotment of 32-marla land to Premu, a resident of Kajlot village in December 1992, under the Himachal Pradesh Village Common Land Vesting and Utilisation Scheme 1972, was missing. The land was bought by Anurag.

Vigilance officials said they were still trying to trace the record. However, in case it was not found a case would be registered against officials concerned.

Meanwhile, HPCA spokesperson Sanjay Sharma said they had not received any notice or questionnaire from the Vigilance. After the questionnaire is received answer to the queries of the vigilance would be given by the HPCA counsels.

Mandi, October 4
The Bharatiya Janata Party and its youth wing, BJYM, today protested against the Congress government, alleging that the FIR against Hamirpur MP and HPCA president Anurag Thakur was politically motivated.

BJP spokesperson Ajay Rana alleged that the state government was implicating Anurag and the cases against him would not stand the scrutiny by court. “We criticise the Congress government’s action which is aimed at damaging the party’s public image in which they will not succeed”, he charged.

Citing the recent gang-rape incidents, BJP and BJYM leaders alleged that the Congress was more concerned to implicate BJP leaders than to improve law and order.

Kangra, October 4
Twenty-five pilgrims from Kaithal district in Haryana were injured when a truck in which they were travelling to Jawalamukhi fell into a gorge at Dhaliara in Dehra subdivision of the district on Thursday late evening.

Dehra sub-division police officer BD Bhatia said the truck, which was coming from Kaithal with 48 pilgrims on board, in the process of overtaking another vehicle veered off the road and fell into a gorge. Twenty-five pilgrims, including women and children, were injured and rushed to the Civil Hospital at Dehra. Bhatia said two pilgrims with fractures were rushed to Dr Rajendra Prasad Government Medical College Hospital, Tanda.

The government had banned ferrying of pilgrims in trucks, trailers and tempos to the shrines in the hill state to check accidents. Kangra district police has advised all devotees and pilgrims visiting different shrines in the district not to travel by the banned vehicles.

Shimla, October 4
Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh today confirmed that he had accepted the resignation of Chief Parliamentary Secretary Rajesh Dharmani. With this, the number of Chief Parliamentary Secretaries has come down to seven and Bilaspur district did not have any representation in the ministry.

The Chief Minister also indicated that the lone vacancy in the ministry could be filled soon, while asserting that the appointment of Chief Parliamentary Secretaries and chairpersons of various boards and corporation was an ongoing process.

A two-time MLA from Ghumarwin, Dharmani had sent his resignation on Wednesday and Virbhadra, who was in Chandigarh, dashed to Delhi to meet AICC General Secretary Ambika Soni, who is in-charge of party affairs in the state. Party sources maintained that Dharmani had brought his grievances to the notice of the high command before resigning and was advised to discuss the matter with the Chief Minister.

However, Dharmani sent the resignation and insisted that it should be accepted, as he did not want to hold a post which neither carried any responsibility not vested with any power.

According party sources, Dharmani was upset over the appointment of first-time Bilaspur Sadar MLA Bambar Thakur as chairman of the District Grievances Committee, ignoring him ahead of him. He was also unhappy over the fact that the suggestions given by him to improve the functioning of the Forest Department to which he was attached were ignored.

In this situation, there was no way he could make any meaningful contribution to justify his post. Dharmani had all through been maintaining that by submitting resignation he was not resorting to pressure tactics and that he would be in a better position to discharge his duties to the electorate as an MLA without the post.

Sanawar, October 4
General Gaurav Shamsher Jung Bahadur Rana, Chief of the Nepal Army and a distinguished alumnus of Sanawar, 1972 batch, presided over the last day of a three-day 166th Founder’s Day celebrations, which concluded today at The Lawrence School, Sanawar.

Addressing students and staff, Rana shared his cherished memories of school days and expressed happiness to see the old traditions being maintained in tandem with modernisation at the school.

He said tough lessons of discipline, which he had imbibed during his student days, had helped him attain the top position in the Nepal army.

While addressing the gathering, headmaster Praveen Vasisht highlighted the achievements of the school in the past one year in academics, sports and co-curricular activities.

Later, the chief guest awarded medals and trophies to winners, which included the Chief of the Army Staff Trophy for the best all-rounder boy and girl in Class XII for 2012. This trophy was bagged by Gurjot Singh Thind and Anjali Sharma, respectively.

The Thimmaya Cup for Organisational Ability Award was given to Rhea Sharma while the Carlyll Cup for Progress was awarded to Bhavana Thakur and the Chief of Army Staff Cup for the best Cadet was awarded to Fatehbir Singh Dhaliwal.

The Chief of Air Staff Trophy for Academic Excellence and the Catherine Longman Cup for Public Speaking were awarded to the Siwalik House. 

Shimla, October 4
A multipurpose car parking complex will be constructed at Rohru with a capacity for 300 vehicles in the public private partnership (PPP) mode.

Stating this while reviewing the progress of development projects in the district, Deputy Commissioner Dinesh Malhotra said a tender had been sent to the government for approval.

He said steady increase in number of tourists in Shimla had necessitated the development of more parking spaces in and around the city.

Shimla, October 4
The question whether or not the ongoing competing social media campaigns projecting Narendra Modi and Rahul Gandhi for the top post make an impact on the outcome of 2014 polls dominated the discussion on the final day of the two-day National Conference on Mass Media and the Indian Public Sphere: Issues and Challenges, here today.

The moot question was will these campaigns be able to influence the hearts and minds of the Indian youth, like the American presidential elections and will the next Indian general election be won or lost on the basis of performance on television and social networking sites?

The issue came up during discussion on corporatisation of media and the social networking sites, which posed a challenge and also raised the question of regulating media.

NAK Durrani of Aligarh Muslim University asserted that social media presented many opportunities and challenges to the youth today. Vir Bala Aggarwal, Chairperson, Department of Journalism and Mass Communication explained how coffee houses and other public meeting places of yester era acted as nurseries for public sphere, which got shrunk with the advent of the mass media. Vikas Dogra, Assistant Professor, also from the Himachal University, said social networking sites were an extension of the continual process of human communication.

M Rabindranath of the School of Mass Communication and New Media spoke on social networking and online community in the context of freedom of expression. Gopal Singh from BR Ambedkar Central University, Lucknow, and Nitin Kumar from Doon University, Dehradun, made a joint presentation on “Freedom of Press: Corporate Media vs Public Interest.”

Dhiraj Shukla from Teerthankar Mahaveer University Muradabad, spoke on the topic “Corporatisation of Media: A Challenge to Freedom of Expression” and Sheetal Thapar from Punjab Agriculture University, Ludhiana, on “Role of Social Media in India.”

Hamirpur, October 4
The Board of Governors (BOG) of Himachal Pradesh Technical University (HPTU) has decided to form a high powered select committee for the selection of Vice-Chancellor (V-C) of the university.

The decision in this regard was taken by the BOG in its meeting held on October 1 at Shimla. The three member high powered select committee would have secretary, technical education, in the state government as one of its members and the notification regarding the other two members would be made soon.

One of the members of the committee is likely to be chosen from top technology institutions in the state like Indian Institute of Technology and the other from amongst the top professionals in the industrial sector. The committee would constitute a panal of three academicians for the post and submit it to the state government for the final approval of the Vice-Chancellor.

The BOG would consider various names for the post of Vice- Chancellor and it can also invite applications from other candidates. This entire process would take at least two to three months in appointing the new Vice-Chancellor of the HPTU. The post of Vice-Chancellor of the HPTU is lying vacant since April 2013, when Dr Shashi Dhiman had to resign from the post to join his parent department after cancellation of his leave by the state government. 

Bilaspur, October 4
Deputy Commissioner-cum-District Magistrate (DM) Ajay Sharma has issued a notification under Section 144 of the CrPC, banning all types of arms and ammunition, sharp edged weapons, explosives, etc., within the territory of the Kot police station in the Naina Devi constituency from October 5 to October 14. This order has been passed to maintain law and order during Ashwin Navratra fair. — OC