Shimla, February 13
Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh today said the government would take a final decision on the opening of new schools or upgrading the existing ones within the next few days. He said recommendations made by MLAs would be taken into account.

He was replying to a query raised by Asha Kumari during the Question Hour in the Assembly today, while BJP legislators continued to stay away from the session.

"The government will consider opening these new schools on legislators' recommendations shortly. This will be done in a phased manner in the current and next academic session," he said.

Asha pointed out that while the government had formulated norms for opening colleges, the basis for opening or upgrading schools was not yet clear.

Virbhadra said during 2013-14, a total of 65 new primary schools and one college had been opened. The number of schools which had been upgraded during this period was 229. He added that nine new colleges had been opened following the High Court directives.

Replying to a query from Maheshwar Singh on Aadhaar-based ration cards, the Chief Minister said a majority of the people in Himachal had got Aadhaar cards made in the state and this would form the basis for computerised ration cards.

"The government will consider making ration cards of those who do not have Aadhaar cards," he said.

Virbhadra said a total of Rs 1.39 crore would be spent on making e-ration cards, with both Himachal and the Centre sharing the expenditure equally. He confirmed that the ration cards would be made in the name of the oldest woman in the family.

Replying to another query by Maheshwar Singh on the problems faced by patients and their attendants in getting treatment at the PGI, Chandigarh, the Chief Minister said three Himachal Administrative Services (HAS) officers had been posted in the PGI. "Their services are at the PGI's disposal, but we will sensitise them when it comes to help in patients' treatment," he said.

He said a sum of Rs 2.17 crore had been spent on the treatment of 142 patients from the Chief Minister's relief fund at the PGI between December 25, 2013, and January 31, 2014.

Asha Kumari and Rajinder Rana requested the CM to appoint a special officer whose exclusive task would be to assist patients who faced problems, including those in getting rooms at the two serais for patients.

Hamirpur, February 13
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders are making every effort to showcase the party’s strength in the state through its prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi’s rally at Sujanpur before the forthcoming parliamentary elections.

The BJP, after losing power in the state at the hands of the Congress, is said to be lying low and its cadre, it is believed, is a bit demoralised. It is thus trying to rejuvenate the party cadre and send a positive signal through the rally.

The party leaders have tactically selected the venue at Sujanpur as this area was a part of the Bamsan Assembly constituency represented by former Chief Minister PK Dhumal in the state Assembly during his previous term.

After disintegration of the Bamsan Assembly constituency, Dhumal had shifted to Hamirpur and Rajender Rana, a BJP rebel, had snatched the seat from the BJP by winning as an independent in the last elections by a huge margin.

The Congress leaders are also relying on Rana’s support for pinning Dhumal in his home turf, where stakes are high for the BJP, as Anurag Thakur, son of PK Dhumal, would be contesting the elections this time.

The Congress leadership after facing a series of defeats in the Hamirpur parliamentary constituency is concentrating here to regain the seat in the forthcoming elections.

Moreover, Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh and Dhumal are engaged in a war of supremacy in the state and the coming parliamentary elections are likely to be a testing ground for them.

Since the Sujanpur rally is likely to be Narendra Modi’s only public meeting in the state before the elections, the BJP will try to turn the rally into a massive show of strength.

Dhumal said, “We have organised door-to-door process to mobilise people for the rally and this rally will be the biggest political rally of all times in the state as we have set a target of about 2 lakh people.”

Una, February 13
While the state BJP is going all out to extract maximum political mileage from BJP prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi’s February 16 rally to be held at Sujanpur, the party in power is making efforts to check the crowd flow to this event.

Industry Minister Mukesh Agnihotri has finalised Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh’s visit to his home segment Haroli on February 16 and a massive publicity campaign to invite people to the CM’s public meeting scheduled at Dulehar stadium has been launched during the past three days.

During the CM's visit, he will lay the foundation stones of schemes worth about Rs 350 crore, including the foundation stone of a food park at Singan village, on which a sum of Rs 300 crore is expected to be spent.

The CM will also lay the foundation stone of a Centre-sponsored Model Health Research Unit and a Mini Secretariat at Haroli, a bus stand at Dulehar, ESI Hospital and Labour Hostel at Tahliwal and a building of Industrial Training Institute at Pubowal.

It remains to be seen whether the Congress move bears fruit. As regards the BJP, the workers are not sparing any effort to let go of the opportunity, to showcase their muscle vis-a-vis the opponents in the run-up to the elections.

Bilaspur, February 13
Employees of the Postal Department went on a one-day "symbolic strike" here today on a call from the National Federation of Postal Employees Unions (Class III).

Addressing a rally here, their leaders, district president PC Sankhyayan, general secretary Rikhi Ram Sharma and prominent leader Vipin Chaudhary said departmental officers had been consistently ignoring their difficulties and problems despite repeated requests.

They said they would be forced to start an indefinite strike crippling the postal system if the department did not solve their problems and met their long-standing demands at the earliest.

They said employees were being harassed under the cover of so-called targets, the entire computer network was paralysed, UPS was virtually crippled and practically not in a working condition, but officers were not bothered about solving these problems.

Their major demands included application of all positive points of the Seventh Pay Commission, making all rural "dak sevaks" government employees and filling of all vacant posts, interim relief, inclusion of 50 per cent dearness allowance in basic pay, five advance increments to employees, restoration of "right to strike" and stoppage of harassment of trade union leaders.

Shimla, February 13
The foundation stone of the Rs 300-crore solution salt mining plant at Darang in Mandi district will be laid by the end of this month.

The state government and Hindustan Salt Ltd, a Central Government enterprise, have agreed to jointly set up the plant at Darang in Mandi district with massive rock salt deposits spread over an area of 123 acres.

The foundation stone of the plant was expected to be laid by the end of this month as all modalities had been worked out with Hindustan Salt Ltd, said Kaul Singh Thakur, Health and Revenue Minister. He represents the Darang Assembly constituency.

With this being the only rock salt deposits in North India, the solution mining technique will be used to extract salt in contrast to the existing dry technique being used. The expected salt production is likely to be around 400 to 500 metric tonne per month. Rock salt mines in Mandi district have estimated reserves of 116 metric tonne and the salt extracted from here is expected to be of a very high purity. This will make Himachal the only state in North India to produce edible salt.

It was almost two-and-a-half years ago that Hindustan Salt Ltd that was engaged for rock salt mining at Darang for decades was asked to stop work. The main reason for stopping the work and withdrawal of mining permission was the absence of certain mandatory environmental clearances. The plea taken by the state government was that Hindustan Salt Ltd had flouted mining rules and environmental laws.

Hindustan Salt Ltd had made a fresh application seeking transfer of the land lease for mining and it was following a meeting with officials of the state government that the issue was resolved. The issue of the pending royalty that had to be paid to the Himachal Government was also discussed and it was decided that this would be done in instalments by Hindustan Salts Ltd.

The setting up of the plant is expected to provide employment to 400 local persons, both the mining site and the refinery. Till now, the mining of rock salt was being done for cattle consumption, but it was not being refined to be made fit for human consumption.

Kullu, February 13
Air India has announced the shutdown of its operation to the Kullu-Manali airport at Bhuntar, 10 km from here, from February 20. The Air India station manager at the Bhuntar airport confirmed that the schedule for Delhi-Kullu operations had been halted from February 20 to April 15.

He said the operations were put down due to less bookings. It was further learnt that even today, 24 passengers came on the flight, while a maximum of 35 passengers were permitted from Delhi to Kullu and 19 passengers flew back from Kullu to Delhi.

The maximum permitted load is 17-18, due to shorter length of the runway at the Bhuntar airport and in view of the carriage capacity of the aircraft. Experts opine that frequency of the carrier could be reduced to cope with less bookings but the real reason behind dropping the schedule is apparently different.

The operations remained closed for over a year from June 2012 to May 2013. There were rumours about acquiring of new aircraft.

The number of tourists is going to increase, as the heli-ski season starts from March. Atishaye, president, Kullu Travel Agents Association, said, "In view of the upcoming tourist season, it is unfortunate that the air connectivity to Kullu is completely closed again."

Arun Sharma, general secretary, State Congress Business Cell, urged MP Pratibha Singh to raise the issue with the Union Civil Aviation Minister. He called for efforts towards resumption of air operations by the government carrier. He said public interest should be given weightage over profit motive by public concerns.

Shimla, February 12
State Chief Information Commissioner (CIC) Bhim Sen has directed the Forest Department to put all the information regarding encroachments on forest land on their official website within a month. He said the public relation officer would be liable for not adhering to the orders.

As per an estimate, about 3.5 lakh persons have encroached forest land in the state. Most of these are agriculturists/horticulturists and about 1.60 lakh persons have given an affidavit that they have encroached the forest land. These affidavits were given in 2002-03 during the BJP regime when the then government announced a policy on regularisation of encroachments but the issue was embroiled in legal wrangling.

The Forest Department has itself registered cases against more than 70,000 persons for encroaching the forest land and the menace is on the rise.

The directions have come after an application was filed by an RTI activist seeking information about the total number of encroachments in Kullu district with the names of encroachers. He also sought information on the number of cases under investigation, cases in which investigation had been stopped and the name of the authority on whose orders the investigation were stopped.

The RTI activist had approached the CIC after the Forest Department did not provide this information to the applicant.

Solan, February 13
The Solan police today registered a case of forgery, cheating and criminal conspiracy under the Prevention of Corruption Act against Revenue Department officials and representatives of Baba Ramdev's Patanjali Yogpeeth Trust. The case pertains to the grant of lease of 28 acres at Kehlog village near Sadhupul in Kandaghat sub-division during the BJP regime.

The case was registered in Solan under Sections 420, 467, 468, 471 and 120-B of the IPC and Section 13 (2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act against revenue officials responsible for the grant of this lease.

Confirming this, Additional Superintendent of Police Padam Chand said certain irregularities had come to light while enquiring into this matter and this had formed the basis of the registration of the case.

It has been stated that the trust was earlier granted in-principle approval by the state government to give land on lease at Chaura revenue village in Kandghat sub-division in 2008. The trust representatives approached the Deputy Commissioner with a letter stating the government had accorded in-principle approval for giving land on lease at revenue village Kehlog. The location had been changed by an overwriting and even the prescribed letter for taking government land on lease which was submitted to the office of the DC was undated, it is learned.

Since the land located at Kehlog was not vested with the state government as per the Himachal Pradesh Village Community Land Vesting and Utilisation Act, 1974, it could not have been leased out as per the revenue norms, it is further maintained. It is all, in fact, stated to be in violation of norms and the police are now enquiring into how instead of Chaura, land was granted at Kehlog and why was the fact of there being overwriting ignored.

Pointing a finger at the role of revenue officials who had facilitated the grant of lease during the BJP regime, the police are now further investigating their role.

The police have alleged that it all happened in connivance with revenue officials. The inquiry also found that no activity was undertaken on the land leased to the trust for 14 months and, initially, it was recommended that only about 20 acres of land should be granted on lease.

The BJP government had, in 2010, given about 28 acres land to Patanjali Yogpeeth at a payment of Rs 17 lakh and a 99-year lease at a token annual fee of Re 1. The Congress, while in the Opposition, had claimed that the land was valued at Rs 35.4 crore, but was allotted to Ramdev at a throwaway price.

Palampur, February 13
Former Chief Minister and senior BJP leader Shanta Kumar today criticised the Union Government for its failure to provide the Budget for the proposed rail projects in the state. He said the interim rail Budget presented in the Lok Sabha yesterday had disappointed lakhs of residents of the state.

Talking to mediapersons here today, Shanta Kumar said the Union Government should provide grants for the railway projects of the state at par with other states such as J&K and the North-East.

He appealed to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to expedite the Jogindernagar-Leh railway line project keeping in view the defence requirements of the country. He said a survey for the project had already been completed, but the Defence Ministry had not released Rs 3,000 crore.

He said at present, there was no road network to Leh, which was accessible only for four months in a year. Most of the defence supplies were lifted by air from Chandigarh and other places, resulting in a huge financial burden on the exchequer, he said.

Dharamsala, February 13
The state government has granted an approval for a Government Engineering College in Nagrota Bagwan, the Assembly constituency of Minister for Food and Civil Supplies, Technical Education and Transport GS Bali.

Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh will lay the foundation stone of the college on February 15.

Sources said three streams of engineering, including mechanical, electronic and communication and civil, would start in the proposed engineering college this year.

Though there was no building of the college, the state government had sanctioned posts for starting the college. Initially, the classes for the engineering college would start at the Government Polytechnic College.

The sources said initial investment of about Rs 50 crore for the college building would be made by the state government. Later, the college would be financed under the Rashtriya Utkrisht Siksha Abhiyan (RUSA).

Bali when contacted on the phone said the foundation stone of the college would be laid by the Chief Minister on February 15. He said the Congress would also hold a massive rally to mark the occasion. The rally would be held a day before the address of BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi in the Sujanpur area of Hamirpur district, he said.

The Government Engineering College is the second major project in the government sector in the Nagrota Bagwan Assembly constituency represented by Bali. The constituency already has Tanda Medical College. Nagrota Bagwan also has a Government Degree College.

The Government Engineering College at Nagrota Bagwan will be the first engineering college in the government sector in Kangra district and third in the state. The state already has two government engineering colleges at Sundernagar and Pragati Nagar in Shimla district. Both the existing government engineering colleges are facing paucity of faculty.

In Kangra district, Nagrota Bagwan and Dharamsala Assembly constituencies represented by GS Bali and the Minister for Housing and Urban Development have grabbed majority of the development projects during the stint of the present government. While Nagrota Bagwan has got a Government Engineering College, Dharamsala got a war museum and IT park this week. 

Shimla, February 13
As a major initiative aimed at saving the British-era heritage buildings in the state capital from fire or any other disaster, the Fire and Home Guards Department has been asked to undertake regular fire audits and frequent checks of all buildings.

The Home Department issued the orders last week asking the Fire Department to identify all such buildings and prepare an action plan to ensure that there was no laxity on the part of any agency in protection against fire or other disasters.

The move comes in the wake of the devastating fire which damaged a major portion of the century-old Gorton Castle, housing the office of the State Accountant General.

In fact, the Fire Department has already swung into action and inspected many such buildings for fire safety measures and hindrance-free access to the structures which are a part of the precious British legacy.

“Within a week’s time, we will submit our report to the Home Department as we have already inspected many buildings, including the Labour Bureau, Hotel PeterHoff, High Court, All India Radio and a few others,” said BS Chauhan, Chief Fire Officer.

He said 24 such buildings had been identified so far, but some schools and hotels would also be included in the list.

Sources said the government had decided to put in place a proper system where checking was done regularly.

There was a provision for fire audits, but it was not being adhered to strictly.

As per the directives from the Home Department, fire personnel have been asked to keep a check against the haphazard parking of vehicles within the complex where these buildings are located.

Besides, it will also be ensured that hindrance-free access for fire tenders and other emergency services is always available.

A major problem faced by fire personnel in controlling the fire at the Gorton Castle was the vehicles parked all around the building. As a result, the fire personnel could not combat the fire from all sides.

It was only after Army personnel assisted by the police and Home Guards lifted the cars physically that the fire tenders could reach the building, but by that time the fire had become uncontrollable.

There are a total of 20 fire stations having three to five big fire tenders in the state. Besides, there are 10 fire posts having one big fire tender each. The two fire stations at Shimla and Mandi have five fire tenders each. The two fire stations at Boileauganj and Chotta Shimla have three tenders each.

The vacant position in the Fire Department too is far from satisfactory. There are 339 firemen in the state with the total number of vacancies being 147. 

Mandi, February 13
A research team of Career Point University has undertaken a project expected to open new frontiers in earthquake detection in the region. Under the project, headed by Dr Naveen Thakur and Dr Jitender, assistant professors in the university's Physics Department, Soil Gas Meters (SGMs) have been installed at different locations.

The SGMs are purported to gather important data regarding the region's geology and expected to be a great help in earthquake prediction. Many districts, Kangra, Hamirpur, Chamba and Mandi, fall under seismic zones IV and V and the info thus gathered will facilitate geological studies and make for insight into disturbances in the earth’s crust.

Kangra had experienced a massive earthquake in 1905, causing extensive loss in the region, while Kinnaur and Chamba areas have been experiencing tremors.

Dr Thakur said, “Earthquakes have caused widespread destruction and anxiety. Their prediction has been a challenge; an advance made in the science of Radon measurement has shown the way."

He said, “In the inner sphere of the earth, significant changes are taking place due to the emission of Radon trapped in the crust before tremors due to stresses, triggering earthquakes.”

Waves are developing in the crust and gases are forming due to radioactive material like Radon and Theron; if their quantity is excessive, inner disturbances will be more. By installing the SGMs, the research team will study the presence of these gases in the crust, on the basis of which, prediction on seismic activity can be made.

The research team has installed the SGMs in Dharamsala, Palampur, Shahpur, Mandi, Sundernagar, Sarkaghat and on the university campus in Hamirpur district.

The team will monitor disturbances in the earth’s crust, with the detector recording these on a film.

The report on the geological data will be submitted to the state government's Science and Technology Department.

While research scholars from the Physics Department will be actively participating in the data collection, Dr Gulshan from Government College Sarkaghat is co-ordinating the project.

Kullu, February 13
The operation of the tunnel boring machine, deployed by the NHPC for the construction of Head Race Tunnel (HRT) of the 800-MW Parbati Hydro-electric Project, Stage-II at Shilagarh, 35 km from here, was restored yesterday. This has happened after a gap of about seven years.

After excavation of around 4,000 metre of the 9,050 m of the HRT, the TBM was submerged under muck and debris from the water ingress inside the tunnel in November 2006.

Even after repeated restoration of the machine, the boring could not be restored.

Only around 70 m was excavated till now after 2006, and that too following huge expenditure.

The NHPC has now awarded the contract to Gammon India Ltd. The functioning of the machine was restored yesterday, while no boring activity had been carried out so far, confirmed sources.

The then Union Power Minister Sushilkumar Shinde had inspected the construction activities of the TBM in May 2010.

He had advised the NHPC authorities to speed up the construction so that the project was completed as per the revised schedule.

Even after over four years when the target completion time had been revised to July 2018, there was little hope of the project being accomplished in the revised timeframe. Almost half the work was still pending and that too where the mountain cover was much thicker, which made excavation tougher.

The NHPC authorities said the pace of construction activities of Parbati Stage-II was hindered by poor geological conditions at the TBM site of 
the project. General Manager AK Singh refrained from commenting on the loss incurred due to the overall delay in the project.

Sundernagar, February 13
Patients undergoing various tests at the local Civil Hospital are nowadays in for a different treatment at different times of the day.

They have to make arrangements for syringes on their own for tests (for taking blood samples) in the government laboratory.

On the other hand, they are not required to make arrangements for syringes on their own while getting tests done at SRL Lab started by the government recently on the same campus. And the rates for the tests are the same in both the laboratories.

The state government recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Ranbaxy Labs and set up laboratories in government hospitals (SRL Labs) in the state.

The patients have to pay up as per government norms. The tests could be got done during a period of 21 hours (from 12.01 pm to 9 am) and the timing for government labs is 9 am to 12 pm so that patients may get the results for the tests easily under one roof for 24 hours. But the patients are treated differently in the two laboratories.

While undergoing tests in the government lab, they have to make arrangements for syringes on their own.

On the other hand, they are not asked to purchase these syringes from outside for tests in the SRL Lab, situated in the same hospital, while the same rates are charged from patients at both these places.

Dr Javad, Senior Medical Officer, Government Hospital, Sundernagar, when asked about it, admitted that the patients had to make arrangements for syringes on their own.

Amar Chand Verma, president, Himachal Upbhokta Sangh, appealed to the government to provide necessary syringes in the hospital itself as patients felt harassed when they entered the lab after paying the dues for the test and were asked to bring own syringes.

As per a source in the Medicine Department, the government charges for the entire test and the patients are not required to bring syringes from outside.

However, the anomalous practice has been on even after the matter was brought to the notice of the higher authorities.