Shimla, March 3
Himachal Lokhit Party (HLP) president Maheshwar Singh today endedspeculation of the HLP-BJP merger, stating that the HLP would not merge with the BJP and support the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in the Lok Sabha elections.

Maheshwar Singh dashed BJP’s hopes of fielding him from Mandi against Pratibha Singh, Congress candidate and wife of Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh.

After a three-hour meeting of its 12-member core group amid heated arguments, Maheshwar Singh, senior leaders Shayam Sharma, Khushi Ram Balnata, BR Mandyal, Naveen Dhiman, Tikoo Thakur and others passed a resolution rejecting the BJP offer of merger. Maheshwar held the meeting here after he met BJP president Rajnath Singh and party observer Ram Lal last week in Delhi.

Maheshwar toed the line of HLP leaders and party workers who did not support the merger with the BJP. “We have passed a unanimous resolution to support the AAP candidates on all four seats in the Lok Sabha elections and we still await AAP’s response on the merger,” Maheshwar said.

He rubbished media reports on the HLP-BJP merger, saying that an impression was created as if they went to the BJP with a begging bowl. “We met senior BJP leaders as we have worked in the party for long,” he claimed.

The HLP and AAP share the common ground that these parties came into existence to fight the corrupt system, he claimed. “We are planning for the 2017 Assembly elections as a third front comprising like-minded people in the state,” he added.

Shyama Sharma said the HLP had passed two more resolutions that the state should recover Rs 15,000 crore dues from 14 states as awarded by the Supreme Court. “We also passed a resolution that electric meters should be checked as consumers are being slapped inflated bills,” Maheshwar added.

Gaddi leader from Kangra Dulo Ram did not turn up for the meeting as he had already declared support to AAP. Party spokesperson Mohinder Sofat had expressed inability to attend the meeting due to some personal reason, but had rejected the BJP offer.

New Delhi, March 3
The Supreme Court today issued a notice to the Centre and Himachal Pradesh on a PIL complaining that spurious drugs manufactured by a company in the hill state were being procured by several state governments and given to patients at state-run hospitals endangering their lives.

A Bench comprising Justices AK Patnaik and FMI Kalifulla also sought the response of the company, Vardhman Pharma in Sirmaur district of Himachal, and the Tripura Government. PIL petitioner Ashok Kumar Sinha is a practising physician from Tripura.

According to the PIL, as many as 11 drugs produced and marketed by the company had failed the quality test conducted at the Regional Drug Test Laboratory, Guwahati. These drugs include the widely used amoxicillin, gentamycin, antacids, cefaxime, ciprofloxacin, erythromycin and ofloxacin.

The company was also supplying medicines to the PGI, Chandigarh, and the All-India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) and Safdarjung Hospital in New Delhi, the PIL said.

In fact, Tripura had floated a tender inviting offers from only those companies which were selling medicines to these three hospitals, the petition contended. According to the petition, the company’s owner, Minakshi Jain, has been absconding.

Shimla, March 3
Opposing the recruitment through deputation in the History Department of Sanjauli College in Shimla, members of the Students Central Association (SCA) and the Students Federation of India (SFI) today lodged their protest in front of the Vice-Chancellor's office and questioned that why the posts were not being advertised.

The students, who were also against the implementation of Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA) stating that the state had not fulfilled the pre-requisites like appointment of lecturers and basic facilities for its implementation, said the police tried to whisk them away, but could not succeed as the protestors were in large numbers.

Shimla, March 3
With the announcement of the Lok Sabha elections likely to be made anytime, the government is all set to sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare after getting the Cabinet approval tomorrow for the setting up of two medical colleges.

The Cabinet nod for the signing of the MoU with the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare will be obtained when Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh chairs the meeting here tomorrow. The Health Ministry has already sent the MoU papers to be signed with the state government for the setting up of two medical colleges at Nahan and Chamba, announced by Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad in Mandi two days back.

The MoU is likely to be signed and sent back to the Union Health Ministry tomorrow.

As per the MoU papers, the funding for the medical colleges will be Rs 189 crore each and the cost sharing will be in the ratio of 90:10. The Union Health Ministry will provide Rs 50 crore for equipment and Rs 30 crore for the upgradation of the district hospital to be attached with the medical college.

The two district hospitals at Nahan and Chamba are 200 bedded each; so 100 more beds will have to be added at both places. Availability of land at these places for the coming up of the medical colleges will also not be a problem as it can be located within a distance of 10 km from the teaching hospital attached with it as has been the case at the Tanda Medical College in Kangra.

The two burn care centres announced by Azad will be set up at the two medical colleges in Shimla and Tanda as the presence of plastic surgeons is a pre-requisite. "As far as the setting up of the two trauma care centres is concerned, it is not yet certain where these will come up as we do not know which level centres these will be," said a health official.

The level-one trauma centres are normally attached with a medical college, while a level-two trauma centre is attached to a tertiary care hospital. The level-three trauma centre for which an allocation of Rs 8 crore is made can be located anywhere depending on the requirement.

Shimla, March 3
The Union Ministry of Home Affairs has accorded the status of strategic roads to Manali-Leh and Manali-Samdoh roads under the Indo-China Border Roads project. Thirteen routes, providing reliable link to the border areas, have been included in the category.

Though Kinnaur and Lahaul-Spiti share boundary with China on the Tibetan side, not much has been done to strengthen the infrastructure, including roads and other facilities, in these border areas. The inclusion of the two roads on the list will ensure funds and maintenance of the roads as per national highway (NH) norms from the Home Ministry.

While the Manali-Leh route, which provided an alternative route for carrying of supplies to the Army during operation Kargil, is 378-km long, the Manali-Gramphoo-Samdoh road is 290-km long. At present, these two roads are under the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) and being maintained by the Border Road Organisation (BRO).

It was only two days ago that the decision to accord strategic status to these two roads was conveyed to the Himachal government. Himachal has also moved its case for inclusion of the Old Hindustan-Tibet road in Kinnaur as a priority road under the Indo-China Border Roads project. The strata along this old route is far more stable than the existing road link to Kinnaur which has been suffering extensive damage during the rains, flashfloods and cloudbursts in recent years.

Himachal has all along been urging the Centre to approve a rail link from Jogindernagar-Mandi-Manali-Leh so that there is an alternative route for transporting supplies to the areas bordering China for the armed forces deployed there.

In view of the considerable enhancement of its infrastructure, including telecommunication services by China along the border, India too is feeling the need to scale up facilities.

With the inclusion of these two roads under strategic roads, these will be maintained on a par with national highways, having higher specifications and a width of at least 15 to 22 mts. Moreover, money will be received not just for its widening, but also for its regular maintenance.

Besides these two roads being declared as strategic routes, money has also started flowing in for construction of four other roads in the border areas. A sum of Rs 5 crore out of Rs 16 crore was approved for Thangi-Charang, Rs 11 crore out of Rs 20 crore for Chitkul-Damti and Rs 12.50 crore for the Charang-Kota Dogri road.

Tackling China

* Manali-Leh and Manali-Samdoh roads accorded strategic status by Home Ministry

* The inclusion will ensure funds for the roads as per national highway norms

* These will be maintained and have a width of 15 to 22 m

* Funds for construction of four other roads approved

Shimla, March 3
Visually challenged students appearing for various exams have not been provided writers in spite of clear guidelines issued by the Department of Disability Affairs, Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment.

The XII Board exams and university clerical exams will commence from March 5 and 9, but the department has rejected the demand of the students to arrange scribes and asked them to arrange them on their own.

Noting that the state had not provided writers them, the Department of Disability Affairs had asked the examination conducting authority to arrange scribes for these candidates.

However, the department took a stand that it would not provide scribes/writers to the candidates who were unable to write and only allow the disabled persons to arrange writer for them.

Vinay, a visually challenged person from Hamirpur, who is to appear for the clerical exam conducted by Himachal Pradesh University on March 9, said he had been asked to find a writer for himself with the conditions that the writer should be matriculate with less than 50 per cent marks.

"I am unable to find the writer with less than 50 per cent marks and as a result I will not be able to appear in the exam," he lamented.

Prem, another student, hailing from Rampur, said: "I am not able to study for my exams as failure to get a writer has become a nightmare for me as we are not given Braile sets in exams and writer reads out the question paper to us. Moreover, we have to send two photographs and proof of educational qualification of the scribe and affidavit to the Secretary of the education Board/Controller of Exam in universities with an application for their approval. It is a lengthy process and if the approval is not given on time, the candidate is not allowed to sit in the examination," she added.

Chairman, Umang Foundation, Ajay Srivastav, who has been fighting for their rights for the past one year, has also asked the government to abide by the guidelines of the Union Government and immediately provide writers to the students. 

Palampur, March 3
The local bus stand, constructed in 1991, is in bad shape as in the past 23 years the Himachal Roadways Transport Corporation (HRTC) has not made any effort for its improvement or repair. Because of the poor maintenance of the building and non-repair of the floors, the bus stand is on the verge of collapse.

It is a matter of serious concern that no one in the state government is bothered to take care of one of the important bus stands of the state. Repeated complaints to Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh and Transport Minister GS Bali by local residents have yielded no results so far.

However, last year the HRTC initiated steps to repair the damaged part of the bus stand, but the contractor who was assigned the job left the construction half way. There are deep potholes at the bus stand causing waterlogging after rain making it difficult for passengers even to walk during the day.

There is no toilet worth the name at the bus stand. The Sulabh Sochlatya inside the bus stand is also in bad shape and needs immediate overhauling.

Palampur March 3
People’s Voice, a voluntary social organisation, has criticised BJP leader Shanta Kumar for encouraging anti-environment industries in the state. Shanta Kumar had yesterday promised residents of Chamba district that if the BJP was voted to power, it would set up a cement plant in the district.

The executive committee of People’s Voice met here today and termed Shanta Kumar's announcements as against the interest of the state. The organisation said Shanta should have given top priority to the protection of the state’s environment, instead of making populist promises.

Three cement plants already functional in Solan and Bilaspur district had played havoc with nature and adversely affected the state’s tourism industry. It had also made the lives of people of the districts “hell”, the organisation added.

It said if another cement plant was allowed to come up at Chamba, it would destroy the hills of the district as thousands of green species would be axed for setting it up. Besides, it needed large-scale cutting of hills for the extraction of lime stone, it said.

Daleep Sharma, spokes-man for People’s Voice, while addressing mediapersons, appealed to Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh to come out with new a industrial policy and put the cement industry in its negative list. The state government should only encourage eco-friendly industry in the state, he said.

The tourism industry had a bright future in the state, therefore, the government should adopt Austria or Switzerland model for its development and expansion, he added.

Mandi, March 3
Union Minister for Labour and Employment Oscar Fernandes will inaugurate the ESIC Medical College building in Mandi on March 5. Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh will also be present on the ocassion.

Mandi MP Pratibha Singh, while thanking the UPA government for starting the medical college, said she had been consistently taking up this proposal with the Central Government.

Baldwara (Mandi), March 3
Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh has said, “Gujarat has always had a better infrastructure even during the British rule and Congress governments played a significant role in developing the state. But the BJP is giving all credit to Narendra Modi. People are facing drinking water shortage even today.”

Addressing a public meeting after laying the foundation stone of a degree college at Baldwara today, the Chief Minister said, “Sardar Patel was a visionary leader of the Congress. But the BJP is collecting iron for erecting a statue of Sardar Patel to draw political mileage.”

He said, “The previous BJP government indulged in gimmicks by opening colleges without any budget during the last six months of its tenure and colleges were opened at Baldwara, Ladhbadhol, Dharampur and Bilaspur.”

The Chief Minister said, “Our government has opened 14 new colleges and also sanctioned Rs 5 crore each for building infrastructure in the colleges.”

Talking about the contribution of the Congress government towards medical facilities, he said, “Two medical colleges in Shimla and Tanda were started during the Congress regime and two more medical colleges are now being opened in Chamba and Nahan.”

Later, addressing a public meeting at Ladhbadhol, the Chief Minister said, “The BJP leaders are keen on remaining in power, but are not been doing much for people. Despite a senior minister representing the area, nothing much has been done.”

Virbhadra assured local people of considering opening an IPH subdivision at Ladhbadhol.

The CM also inaugurated a sub-tehsil at Bhadrota and laid the foundation stone of a college at Ladhbadhol.

Shimla, March 3
Taking a serious note of the news item “HPU ignoring UGC, NCTE guidelines" on the recruitment of teachers published in The Tribune today, Deputy Mayor, Municipal Corporation, and senior CPM leader Tikender Singh Panwar today shot off a letter to Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh and sought intervention for restraining the university from implementing the decision of the executive council.

He said, “I have been informed that the executive council in its recent decision allowed private universities and colleges to recruit the non-NET and SLET-qualified teachers in violation of guidelines issued by the NCTE and the UGC.

“It is a serious matter as most of the B.Ed colleges have more than 100 seats and the move is ultra vires of the stand taken by the government in the Supreme Court in the case pertaining to quashing of the regulatory commission for private educational institutions”, he reminded.

After the High Court had termed the setting up of the regulatory commission unconstitutional, the state government moved the Supreme Court and took a clear stand that the regulator was not only legitimate but also the need of the hour.

One of the main reasons to have a regulatory mechanism was to check the quality of education and the recruitment of the faculty.

Now with the present decision of the executive council to relax the norms of recruitment will affect the quality and benefit private universities.

“This will be detrimental to the interests of the students in these institutions”, he said.

Palampur, March 3
Dr KK Katoch, Vice-Chancellor, HP Agriculture University (HPAU), today said in the past six months, the university had received liberal financial grants from the government to clear outstanding liabilities of pensioners.

Addressing a press conference here this evening, Dr Katoch said the government had released Rs 33.71 crore so far, which was utilised to pay the arrears and DA of pensioners. These arrears were outstanding for the past five years and pensioners were on warpath. They had also approached the HP High Court in this regard, he added.

He said the Government of India had also sanctioned a Regional Science Centre on the university campus. Chandresh Kumari, Union Minister for Languages and Culture, had played a significant role to allot this centre to the state. About Rs 6 crore had already been released by the Union Government for this project, he added.

Dr Katoch said a studio for recording radio and television interviews and talks of students and scientists would also be established in the university soon. Rupees 50 lakh had been earmarked for this project. Scientists and student would now be able to get their programmes recorded on the campus.

He added that the university had also planned to set up a camp office of the VC at Shimla. The Department of Agriculture had already allotted a piece of land for this purposes at Mashobra.

The VC said the university had also decided to fill up all vacant posts of staff and scientists in all regional centre and Krishi Vigyan Kendras across the state.

Shimla, March 3
With the 12th Plan envisaging to bridge the gap between male and female literacy rates and bringing down the female illiteracy rate from 13.90 per cent to 3 per cent, making 10,46,968 illiterate, including 7,25,144 women, is a major challenge.

While the state achieved the goal of universalisation of primary education in 1996-97 and made a major headway in compulsory elementary education, 10.57 lakh illiterates are yet to be educated.

These include 4.7 lakh in the age group of 14 to 45 years, 4.3 lakh in 45 -65 years of age while the rest are above 65 years of age.

Stressing the need for a major initiative and demonstrating political will, Director of State Resource Centre Dr Om Prakash Bhuraita said as per the report of 2001 census, there were 82.80 per cent literates in the state. The literacy rate of the male population is 89.83 per cent while that of females is 75.93 per cent. As the density of population is low in the state, it can easily attain 100 per cent literacy, he added.

Spelling out the blueprint for increasing the literacy rate, he said there were about 88,000 volunteers, including 76,000 National Service Scheme (NSS) and 12,000 National Cadet Corps (NCC) in 673 schools and 74 colleges in the state and if each volunteer was assigned the task of teaching two persons, 1,76,000 people would be covered.

Further, villages could be adopted under the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and various related departments could identify illiterates and evolve a mechanism to make them literate within the department itself. This model had been tried and tested in Chamba district, where 12,000 persons were educated through various departments, he added.

There had been a significant increase in the female literacy rate, which had increased from 67.42 per cent in 2001 to 75.93 per cent in 2011, registering an increase of 8.51 per cent, which was more than 4.18 per cent, the increase registered in male literacy.

Woman empowerment was essential for development of the state as females were the backbone of agriculture and allied activities, which was mainstay livelihood of the people. Also MNREGA and other rural development schemes could be woven into various literacy and post literacy programmes, Dr Bhuraita said.

Palampur, March 3
A lecture on “Fostering Scientific Temper” was delivered during the National Science Day celebrations at CSK HP Agricultural University here on Saturday.

Dr AK Srivastava, Director of National Dairy Research Institute (NDRI), in his lecture said it was imperative to add a little bit of scientific knowledge in one’s day-to-day life. He said there was an urgent need to spread scientific knowledge among the masses so that they could benefit from it.

“Science awareness can add value to an individual’s life,” he said, adding that it was science behind making the country surplus in foodgrains.

He said the NDRI had developed a technology to fortify milk with fibre and iron so that it became a complete diet.

Srivastava advised the audience to spread the message of giving healthy and nutritious diet to children during the first 1,000 days of their life.

Vice-Chancellor Dr KK Katoch in his remarks underlined the importance of making science communication simple, effective and interesting.

He said school students should be encouragedto ask questions and their inquisitiveness must be satiated with proper answers.

He said synergy should be developed between science and traditional values so that people accepted scientific facts easily.

Sundernagar, March 3
The Rs 104-crore Left Bank Balh Valley Irrigation Project is still running on interim arrangements as the work of setting up electrical systems for the project could not be completed, though it had to be completed by the beginning of 2013.

On account of the interim arrangements, around 1,000 KW of electrical load has been diverted from Sundernagar town and the Balh Valley for the execution of the lift irrigation schemes. As a result of this, lakhs of residents living in Sundernagar and adjoining villages, under electrical division of Sundernagar, have to face the problem of low voltage and repeated power cuts on account of overloading.

The previous BJP government had inaugurated the Left Bank Balh Valley Project in July 2012. At the time of its inauguration, the project was having no regular electrical connection. Work worth Rs 1.40 crore, to meet the electrical requirements of the project, was awarded to M/s National Enterprises, Baddi, by chief engineer of HPSEB Ltd, Central Zone, on July 30, 2012, to be completed within six months.

Though most of the work had to be done by HPSEB, maximum work is still incomplete even after more than one-and-a-half year of the inauguration of the project.

As per a source from the department, till date only around 40% of the total work has been completed but the quality of work is not up to the mark.

The firm had brought some material a few days ago which was still lying at the electrical sub-station colony.

The source further said though the time to complete the work had been over, no steps had been taken to levy penalty on the firm, as the top officials did not want this but the mater had been brought to the notice of higher authorities.

Due to delay in the work, thousands of consumers of Sundernagar and Balh valley were suffering. Also, thousands of farmers were at a loss due to lack of electrical infrastructure in the project.

Chief engineer of Central Zone S K Goyal said the matter was not in his knowledge but necessary action would be initiated when the matter would be forwarded to his office.

Solan, March 3
With a view to promoting industrial growth and monitoring progress of various infrastructure development projects, the state government has constituted an investment promotion cell (IPC) in the Directorate of Industries.

The government had announced the constitution of the IPC in the annual budget and the proposal was recently cleared by the state Cabinet. The IPC committee, headed by the Chief Minister, also has the Industry Minister and secretaries of various departments concerned, besides the Director, Industries, as its members. The role of investors has also been given prominence in the cell.

Industries Minister Mukesh Agnihotri said directions had been issued to make the cell operational at the earliest so that various infrastructure development projects and ongoing industrial projects, which had sought clearance, could be set up at the earliest.

While this step will boost industrialisation by cutting down on delays, it will also ensure that planning for future projects is taken up by a team of dedicated officials.

The government posted Tilak Raj Sharma, Deputy Director, Industries, as its field official at Parwanoo.

A review committee headed by the Industries Minister and comprising the Principal Secretary and the Director of Industries will oversee the working of this cell .

Rajinder Chauhan, Advisor, Industries, while confirming the news, said a notification in this regard had been issued today. Apart from a deputy director who will head the IPC at Parwanoo, an executive engineer and SDO of the HPSIDC had been given the additional charge to make the cell functional.

He said the cell would work like a catalyst to draw investment and speed up clearances by addressing various problems. All projects cleared by the single window clearance agency will also be monitored by the IPC for speedy implementation.

Arun Rawat, President, CII, termed it as a positive development. He said a CEO should be placed at its head and a vision should be drafted for at least five years, which will encompass various activities which the cell would undertake. He said need-based activities and infrastructure in various sectors like industry, health, education, etc, should be undertaken by the cell and it should act as a catalyst between the government and the private investors to speed up investment. 

Kullu, March 3
The general house of the state Media Manch was held at the Circuit House today. State convener GS Babbu proposed elections after dissolving the existing district body.

It was unanimously held that the state unit would take care of the tasks of the district committee as well till the new body was constituted.

Shyam Kullvi was unanimously nominated president for another term. Tarachand Tharmani was appointed general secretary and Rajesh Sharma, Vinod Mahant, Manminder Arora, Pradeep Kumar, DR Gautam and Bal Krishan Sharma senior vice-presidents. Shalini Rai was made women’s senior vice-president. Kailash Thakur would continue as treasurer of the Manch.

Kullu, March 3
Satya Prakash Thakur, former minister and chairman of Bhuttico, on Thursday expressed gratitude to Union Textile Minister Dr KS Rao for including wool in the category of cotton and silk, and providing 10 per cent subsidy on the purchase of raw material.

Satya Prakash participated in the first meeting of the newly formed All-India Handloom Board in Delhi.

He stressed upon the importance of research and use of machines.

Satya Prakash presented a memorandum to the Textile Minister, listing various problems faced by weavers of the Kullu valley.

He urged the Textile Ministry to provide special status to the hill state as was offered to the north-eastern states.

Satya Prakash said restriction on the rotation of working capital for loan waiver of the cooperatives should be removed, so that cooperative societies of Himachal Pradesh benefited from this policy.