Dharamsala, April 21
Rajan Sushant, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) candidate from the Kangra parliamentary constituency, today said BJP candidate Shanta Kumar had understated his property in the affidavit filed along with the nomination papers.

Addressing a press conference at Dharamsala after the scrutiny of nomination papers, Rajan Sushant alleged in pages 8 and 9 of his affidavit, Shanta Kumar had stated the value of his three-storey house in Palampur as Rs 54 lakh. However, the fact was that the real market value of the house was about Rs 1.48 crore.

Sushant also said Shanta Kumar had stated the value of his Yamini hotel as Rs 43 lakh. However, the real market value of the hotel was about Rs 5 crore.

Sushant claimed that the immovable assets of Shanta Kumar were much more than stated in the affidavit.

He urged the returning officer to take action against Shanta Kumar as he had allegedly understated his properties' market value in the affidavit.

Shanta Kumar had earlier also refused to react to the allegations of Rajan Sushant. He stated that his fight was with the Congress and did not deem it fit to react to allegations of Sushant. Shanta Kumar had even stopped his supporters from reacting to the allegations of Sushant.

Sushant on the other hand had threatened to expose alleged corruption of Shanta Kumar on April 23.

Number game

* Shanta Kumar has stated the value of his three-storey house in Palampur as Rs 54 lakh. However, the real market value of the house is about Rs 1.48 cr

* The value of his hotel was shown as Rs 43 lakh. However, the real market value of the hotel is about Rs 5 crore

Dharamsala, April 21
During the Congress government, the number of jobless youth has increased in the state. The policy has been paralysed and no new project has been sanctioned. Investors have started fleeing the state.

This was said by former Industries Minister and senior BJP leader Kishan Kapoor while addressing a press conference here today.

Kapoor said the government had failed to get industrial package renewed for the state. The NDA government had given the package that had brought investment worth thousands of crores and provided jobs to thousands of youth. However, the UPA government finished the industrial package in 2010.

Kapoor said the government during elections had promised that the industrial package would be renewed. However, after coming to power, the state failed to get any incentive for industry. Due to the paralysed policy, nobody was investing in the state, Kapoor said.

He further said in Khaniara village near Dharamsala, thousands of youths involved in slate mining are likely to be rendered unemployed. The state government has failed to deposit Rs 1.64 crore as NPA of the forest land over which slate mining was allowed by the Union Ministry for Environment and Forests.

Due to it, the Union Minister had threatened to cancel the mining permission in March this year.

Now the entire slate mining, taking place in Khaniara village, has become illegal. This will render thousands of people without jobs and cases can be registered against them, Kapoor said.

He also said the government announced various projects for Dharamsala, including mono rail and IT park. However, all this was eyewash and nothing had been initiated on the ground.

Kapoor said the state government’s decision against allowing hosting of IPL matches in Dharamsala had hit tourism. 

Nahan, April 21
Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh today said the BJP had not only misled people, but also indulged in dividing them on the basis of religion and community. He warned people to be wary of such parties which followed divisive policies.

Addressing a public rally in Nahan, he said Chief Minister PK Dhumal had failed to undertake any developmental work during his tenure and he was seeking votes in the name of Narendra Modi. Earlier, he addressed people at Ronhat, Haripurdhar and Dadahu during the second day of his tour to the district.

Taking a jibe at Dhumal, the Chief Minister said he came to Himachal barely to pursue his political goals, while his business interests were in Jalandhar. He said the false claims made by the former Chief Minister that the state government would be dismissed after May 16 was disrespect to the democratically elected government and it showed his lack of knowledge about the Constitution of India.

Condemning the BJP for failing to accord due respect to their senior leaders, including former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, LK Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi and others, he said the party was only chanting Modi's name while forgetting the contribution of other senior party leaders.

He said there was no Modi wave in the state and it was barely the creation of the media. Virbhadra Singh said the election commission should inquire into how crores were being spent to paint Modi as the prime ministerial candidate when there was no such wave in his favour.

Virbhadra said he had carried out uniform development in the state and even the far-flung and rural areas had been benefited from various developmental programmes.

He said the BJP government had failed to bring about any development in Sirmaur and said their government had brought various development schemes for the district. He urged people to vote for the Congress and ensure uniform development of the state.

He appealed to the people to vote for Congress nominee Mohan Lal Brakta and ensure his victory.

Kangra, April 21
Soon after Narendra Modi takes over as Prime Minister, the state government will fall and the Modi government will get the cases of corruption against Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh investigated by the CBI.

This was stated by former Chief Minister PK Dhumal at Abdullahpur while addressing booth-level party workers today. Dhumal said all sections of society suffered during the UPA government as it failed to check price hike, corruption, unemployment and scams.

He said the need was to vote not for the government at the Centre, but also to save the country from a disastrous situation created by the Congress. He was critical of the UPA government over direct benefit transfer (DBT) programme which left people to financial loss.

He concluded his speech with a slogan, "Taakat badal doo, taj badal doo - baimano kaa raj badal doo".

Former Chief Ministers Prof PK Dhumal and Shanta Kumar could not share the dais at Abdullahpur on the outskirts of this town despite earlier announcements.

Shanta Kumar said the BJP had been working for the unity and integrity of the country and the vote should be cast for the country for which thousands of martyrs had sacrificed their lives. He said to ask for a vote on the caste basis was an insult to martyrs.

Shanta expressed shock that if the Army got involved in a conflict with any country, the entire ammunition would get exhausted within 20 days. He asked how safe was the country in the UPA regime.

Shanta Kumar announced that booth workers would launch a door-to-door campaign from tomorrow and letter from him would be delivered in every family. Earlier, Shanta Kumar, PK Dhumal and Ramesh Dhawala shared the dais at Jwalamukhi.

Una, April 21
Campaigning this time has largely remained focused on getting closer to the electorate through a string of corner meetings addressed by the candidates, supported by door-to-door campaigning by party workers than the display of publicity material and mobile public address systems.

Voters can now expect a personal approach by the contesting parties.

During the previous elections, comparison between the opponents could be gauged by the quantity of display and publicity material put up in the locality and the party flags pitched atop houses. This time, such comparisons are not possible and even the locals are not ready with their views on candidates and political parties.

In each of the five Assembly segments of the district, campaigning is being led by party MLAs. Booth-level committees are the key as door-to-door campaigning has picked up. The credibility of the sitting panchayat representatives and their party affiliations also plays part in polarising the votes.

It is only the BJP which has made use of the services of mobile publicity vans, one in each Assembly segment. The Congress, however, has preferred to meet and appeal to the voters individually. As regards, the Bahujan Samaj Party, which claims to have a formidable base in the district, and the Aam Aadmi Party, in the fray for the first time here, are making efforts to woo voters through the personal contact approach through their cadre.

Stalwarts such as Industry Minister Mukesh Agnihotri and BJP state president Satpal Singh Satti have remained entrenched, most of the time in their home segments. Similarly, former minister and Chintpurni Congress MLA Kuldip Kumar has also mostly been confined to his own segment.

Rakesh Kalia, Gagret MLA, AICC secretary and co-in charge of party affairs in Madhya Pradesh, too has not campaigned in any other Assembly segment, which means, expecting a very close contest, the rival parties have directed the local leaders to strengthen their own forts. 

Kullu, April 21
Pratibha Singh, Congress candidate from the Mandi parliamentary constituency, continued her campaign today and addressed public meetings at Tegubehar, Mohal and Kharal panchayats of this district. She also visited Jari, Kshadha and many remote areas in the Rupi valley yesterday.

State Congress general secretary Sunder Singh said Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh had accepted the demands of residents by giving the tehsil status to Bhuntar and sanctioned a 25-bed hospital in Tegubehar, which had already been notified.

Kullu Congress vice-president Anil Sood urged the people to vote for the Congress as the party had fulfilled all demands of the residents and now it was their turn to reciprocate by voting in favour of the party. 

Shimla, April 21
The BJP has again raked up the issue of discrimination against the state by the UPA government and failure of the state government to protect the interests of the state.

“The UPA government has discriminated against Himachal for the past 10 years and even prematurely withdrawn the industrial package, failed to give power share in projects under the Bhakra Beas Management Board (BBMB) and done nothing for the expansion of the rail network,” party spokesman Ganesh Dutt said.

The state government had failed to protect the interests of people in spite of the fact that both Centre and state had Congress-led governments, he added.

He said immediately after coming to power in 2004, the UPA government reduced the industrial package from March 2013 to March 2010 and in spite of winning the case from the Supreme Court for share in power projects under the BBMB, the arrears amounting to Rs 4,250 crore had not been paid.

The state government had no achievement to count and it was on the backfoot while defending the anti-Himachal steps taken by the Centre and was harping on false cases registered against the BJP leaders to malign them, he said, adding that the move would boomerang as the people know about the achievements of the BJP and Congress governments.

He said, "Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh who is denying that there is any Modi wave should see the writing on the wall and explain to people why the industrial package was curtailed, why the arrears in BBMB projects have not been recovered and why the state was discriminated against in railway projects.”

"We are going to the people with these issues, besides raising the issues of corruption, price rise and unemployment and it is wrong to say that the party was only defending the HPCA," he asserted. 

Discriminated

* Prematurely withdrawn the industrial package

* Failed to give power arrears in projects under the BBMB

* Done nothing for the expansion of the rail network,”

Dharamsala, April 21
The Modi wave is sweeping in the state. JP Nadda, national general secretary of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), said this while talking to The Tribune. Nadda was in the Kangra parliamentary constituency to campaign for party candidate Shanta Kumar.

Nadda said, "I have appealed to the people to give a decisive mandate in favour of the BJP. The opinion polls have indicated that the NDA government is coming to power. There is resentment in the entire country against the Congress," Nadda said.

He further alleged that the Congress government in the state had failed to get anything for Himachal from the UPA government in the past 18 months. The government had just been busy in unleashing vendetta against the previous Bharatiya Janata Party government and had done nothing for the people, Nadda alleged.

Nadda also said economy of the country was in a shambles due to policy and indecisiveness of the UPA government.

Now even the close allies of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had indicated how the highest office was managed by one family.

In Himachal, most of the development took place during the NDA rule. Even the 12 per cent royalty from power projects to Himachal was allowed by the NDA government.

If the NDA government was voted to power, Himachal would benefit the most. So the people of the state should go with the wind and give decisive mandate in favour of the BJP, Nadda said.

Chamba, April 21
All election-related materials, including 62 electronic voting machines (EVMs), arrived at Killar, sub-divisional headquarters of the Pangi tribal area, here today. The services of a helicopter were used for the purpose.

Deputy Commissioner Kadam Sandeep Vasant, who is also the district election officer, said of the 62 EVMs, two would be utilised for giving training to voters about how to use an EVM.aPangi tribal subdivision, having 35 polling stations, is part of the Bharmour tribal Assembly constituency in Chamba district. 

Shimla, April 21
Notwithstanding their past differences and political rivalry, the elections have seen senior leaders both from the Congress and the BJP burying the hatchet and cozying up to each other owing to electoral compulsions with much ease, which comes naturally to these netas.

BJP leaders Shanta Kumar and PK Dhumal today shared the dais at an election meeting in Jwalamukhi today.

A miffed Shanta had not attended any state BJP meeting for the past three years and stuck to his stand until he decided to contest the Lok Sabha election from Kangra.

With both Shanta and Dhumal whose son and sitting MP Anurag Thakur is contesting the Lok Sabha election being in dire need of each other’s support in the battle of the ballot, the two had no qualms in addressing a joint meeting.

Similarly, the pictures of Vijai Singh Mankotia, former Congress minister and one-time bête-noire of Virbhadra Singh, showering praises on the Chief Minister within a fortnight after calling him a dictator is an indication of how friends turn foes and vice versa. The timing chosen by Mankotia, known to be a political opportunist, was perfect as he knew that the Congress could not afford to annoy him during elections.

The fact that Shanta Kumar came knocking at his door for help made Mankotia exert even more pressure. Despite announcing that he would within a week consult his supporters and take a decision about his future course of action, including contesting the election, he virtually sat at home waiting for the Chief Minister.

The very next day Mankotia not only called Virbhadra, the best Chief Minister Himachal could have, but also willingly accompanied him at election meetings.

The case of former Chief Minister PK Dhumal is no different. The re-induction of Narinder Thakur, son of senior BJP leader Jagdev Chand Thakur, into the BJP took many by surprise. Thakur had not just contested the 2012 Assembly election against Dhumal from Hamirpur, but also took on his son Anurag Thakur in the last Lok Sabha election as the Congress nominee.

Considering the animosity between the two, Narinder’s return and above all he being rewarded with the BJP ticket for the Sujanpur Assembly bypoll only reaffirmed the adage that there are no permanent friends or foes in politics.

Former Chief Parliamentary Secretary in the Dhumal regime Urmil Thakur took no time in deserting the BJP and joining the Congress on being denied the ticket for the Sujanpur bypoll. The fact that joining the Congress meant supporting her opponent in the last election Rajinder Rana also did not deter her from joining the Congress.

It seems election time is the occasion for politicians to shed all differences and forget and forgive even if it is compelled by temporary circumstances and not actual change of heart.

Kullu, April 21
The District Election Officer and Deputy Commissioner (DC), Kullu, today inspected the snow-clearance operations being undertaken by the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) to open the 13,050-ft high Rohtang Pass.

DC Rakesh Kanwar said: “The ECI can provide an alternative to voters of Lahaul valley held up in Kullu if the need arises. But I am hopeful that the road will be cleared by the end of the month.”

He said while postal ballots or similar arrangements such as election duty certificates had never been required for polling in the Lahaul and Spiti district of the Mandi parliamentary constituency, the Election Commission could be approached in case the Rohtang Pass did not open before May 7, the scheduled polling day.

The air services to Lahaul were restored yesterday after 14 days due to technical failure of the Pawan Hans helicopter being used by the state government and over 1,900 passengers were in the waiting list to be transferred across the pass.

He said while the BRO had been able to clear snow even beyond Marhi from the Manali side, recent snowfall had hampered clearance operations and also damaged BRO’s machinery.

He said now the road was blocked at some places after the Rahni Nullah. He said reports from the Koksar side of the pass confirmed that the BRO was about to reach the Rohtang top in another couple of days.

He urged BRO officials to restore the Rohtang Pass at the earliest in the wake of the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. Manali SDM Viney Dhiman and other officials accompanied the DC during his visit. 

Hamirpur, April 21
Congress candidate from Sujanpur, Anita Rana, today said she was seeking votes for development works undertaken by Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh and her husband Rajinder Rana during the past 15 months in the area.

Addressing an election meeting at Jungle Bairi here, she said her husband, with the blessings of the CM, was able to start several schemes in the area.

She said: “Opening an SDM office and ITI building at Sujanpur, a police station at Toani Devi,and drinking water schemes worth several hundred crores were started in the Sujanpur Assembly constituency.”

Anita said: “I am getting full cooperation from Anita Verma and Urmil Thakur, who contested the last Assembly election from Sujanpur and with our combined strength and their active support, the victory of the Congress is almost certain.”

Taking a dig at BJP leaders, she said: “Our support base in the constituency has perplexed the BJP leaders and now they are making baseless statements.”

Shimla, April 21
The fund-starved Himachal Pradesh University (HPU) which has failed to utilise the grants and ‘irregularly transferred’ Rs 13.65 crore from the International Centre for Distance Education and Open Learning (ICDEOL) is charging additional Rs 160 for downloading the prospectus from the website.

The Students Central Association (SCA) of the university, spearheading the campaign against the fee hike, has threatened to launch an agitation if the administration fails to withdraw the same.

The SCA pointed out that besides charges for downloading the document, the students had to pay for using cyber café and getting printouts, photostat copies and envelops etc. which was an extra burden on them.

The university’s move has irked students who said they were being forced to pay examination fee per subject. They said on an average, a student had to pay additional Rs 160 from 2014-15 for the entrance test of different courses.

SCA president Rajan Harta, who is leading the group of students staging dharna on the campus, said students were paying only Rs 160 for entrance tests till last year, but it stopped providing the prospectus from this year and asked students to download it from the website by paying Rs 160.

“The decision is baffling as besides putting an additional burden on students, students living in far-flung and remote areas have no access to the internet and cyber cafés at isolated places charge hefty amount,” he added.

Piyush Sewal, SCA secretary, said: “Why should students pay for the prospectus, when it is not being supplied with the admission form? Why is the university charging an extra fee of Rs 160?

“Moreover, the decision has left students confused, as they will be required to fill forms for three subjects and two separate forms will be needed for subsidised and non-subsidised forms. You can well imagine the total cost,” he added.

The university had already delayed the process of making the forms available and the last date for depositing them is April 28.

The Himachal Pradesh University (HPU) campus unit of the NSUI also lodged a protest against the hike. Stating that the move of the university was unjustified, NSUI campus president Hukum Singh Hakki today threatened to sit on a hunger strike if the decision was not taken back.

Palampur, April 21
Valuables worth lakhs of rupees were stolen from Maranda town, 5 km from here, last night. The police said a gang of thieves struck at two places in the town. In the first incident, they broke open the shutters of an electronics shop and escaped with laptops, mobile phones, tabs, other electronics goods and Rs 30,000.

Shop owner Victor Thakur said when he came to the shop, he found the shutters broken and electronic goods missing. He immediately reported the matter to the police.

In another incident, thieves ransacked a house in the suburb of Maranda town and managed to escape with Rs 25,000.

Palampur SHO Gurbachan Singh visited the spots this morning. A dog squad was pressed into service. Cases under different sections of the IPC had been registered. Further investigation was underway, he added. 

Shimla, April 21
The Himachal Pradesh Public Service Commission (HPPSC) today constituted a three-member committee to explore the possibilities of switching over from the existing pattern of the Himachal Administrative Services (HAS) combined examination to the new pattern of written examination adopted by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC).

A commission meeting was held, which was chaired by HPPSC Chairman KS Tomar. All members of the commission, including Prof JC Sharma, JP Singh and Pradeep Chauhan, attended the meeting.

The committee headed by Prof JC Sharma, the senior-most member of the commission has been asked to study all aspects associated with the proposed switchover and submit its final report within three months.

The panel will also seek guidance from the UPSC in this regard. The secretary of the commission will be the member secretary of the experts’ committee.

The commission has also sought views of well-known experts Prof BS Marh, Dean of Academic, HPU, Prof Suresh Kumar, Dean of Studies, HPU, Prof Yogender Verma, Pro-Vice Chancellor, Central University, Dharamsala, Prof PK Ahluwalia, HPU, Shimla.

The move follows a decision by chairpersons of the state Public Service Commission (PSC) to adopt the UPSC pattern during a recent national conference.

Tomar said: “We have decided to study the pros and cons of shifting to the UPSC system which will avoid duplicity of candidates’ efforts.”

He said since the existing scheme of the HAS combined competitive (main) examination is similar to that of the civil services (main) examination of the UPSC, therefore, it has become imperative to switch over to this new system.

He said the commission members would visit universities and colleges in the state to seek views of teachers and students about the switchover.

Solan, April 21
The Solan police today interrogated four revenue officials and a personal assistant (PA) to former Health and Family Welfare Minister Dr Rajiv Bindal in a case relating to the grant of lease to yoga guru Ramdev’s Patanjali Yogpeeth at Kehlog in Kandaghat. A case of forgery, cheating and criminal conspiracy was registered against the yogpeeth by the police on February 13.

Confirming the development, SP Ramesh Chajta said they were interrogated with regard to the grant of the lease of 28 acres, records of which had been seized by the police earlier.

Sources said DP Mahajan, PA to the former health minister, had acted as a witness in the case and his role had come under the scanner after the registration of a case.

Revenue officials, including the naib tehsildar, office kanungo, Kandaghat, rural revenue official of the Patwar circle, Nihari, and superintendent of Kandaghat tehsil, appeared before police officials today. They have been booked under Section 13 (2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act.

An inquiry had found that the trust was earlier granted in-principle approval by the Himachal Government to give the land on lease at Chaura revenue village in Kandaghat subdivision in 2008.

The trust representatives, however, had approached the DCwith a letter stating the government had accorded in-principle approval for giving the land on lease at Kehlog revenue village.

The location had been changed by an overwriting and the prescribed letter for taking government land on lease, which was submitted to the DC office was undated, it is learnt.

Since the land located at Kehlog was not vested with the 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 and this is supposed to be in violation of the revenue norms.

The police are now enquiring into how the land was granted at Kehlog instead of Chaura and why a major irregularity in the letter of approval had been overlooked. The trust had initially failed to undertake any activity on the land for 14 months.

Managing solid waste

* The MC staff will visit each house at a fixed time every day and will charge ~30 per month

* For the collection of garbage from the market, the MC staff will visit every shop from 5 pm to 7.30 pm every day

* The MC has distributed 16,000 blue and green-coloured dustbins for segregation of biodegradable and non-biodegradable waste

* The MC, Mandi, has started awareness campaign and formed ward committees in all 13 wards of the town

* The ward committee will comprise three senior citizens, a woman member and one member each from Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribe and Other Backward Castes

Palampur, April 21
The rise in the consumption of country and foreign-made liquor in Himachal has become a matter of serious concern. The “defective” liquor policy of the state government is held responsible for the increase in liquor consumption.

Information gathered by this correspondent reveals that the consumption of liquor in the state has touched a new high in the past 10 years.

If Punjab has become the “drug capital” in the past few years, Himachal can be said to be the “liquor capital”, where the consumption of liquor has crossed 10.5 crore bottles per year.

Official sources reveal that in 1991-92, the liquor consumption was only 1.58 crore bottles, which went up to five crore bottles in 2001-02. In 2011-12, it rose to 10 crore bottles, while in 2012-2013, it surpassed all previous records at 10.5 crore bottle.

A number of social bodies and NGOs, heading the anti-alcohol campaign in the state, have held that the situation is quite alarming, which has given rise to diseases such as liver cirrhosis, high blood pressure, diabetes, heart ailments and gastro problems. Most of the victims are youth in their early 30s.

A senior police officer admitted that the hike in liquor consumption had become a headache for the police, as it had resulted in law and order problems, domestic violence, rising rate of suicides, murders, rapes, road accidents, thefts and robberies.

Despite the fact that the government is well aware of the situation, it has opened 250 new liquor vends and ahatas in the state in the current financial year to meet a target revenue of Rs 2,000 crore from the sale of liquor.

Daleep Sharma, spokesman, People’s Voice, an NGO, said the government had ignored human health and given priority to generating revenue from liquor.

Meanwhile, the orders of the Himachal Pradesh High Court imposing a complete ban on the opening of liquor vends on national highways, state highways and near education and religious institutions, have given a relief to people. 

Kangra, April 21
A three-day workshop on “Two Faces of Analysis” commenced at the Central University of Himachal Pradesh (CUHP) here today.

The workshop was held at the Department of Mathematics, School of Mathematics, Computers and Information Science, at the Temporary Academic Block, Shahpur. The Mathematical Society organised the workshop.

Prof IV Malhan, Dean, School of Mathematics, Computers and Information Science, while presiding over the inaugural function, said the basic objective was to give students an exposure to two different faces of analysis.

He said analysis was an important area of modern pure mathematics and used in a variety of different subjects such as dynamics, geometry, mechanics, number and representation theory, to name a few.

Prof KB Joshi, Dean, School of Physics and Material Science, was the guest of honour. Dr BS Komal, former Professor and Head, University of Jammu, and Dr Surinder Singh from Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar, would be the resource persons for the workshop. Over 80 students and faculty members attended the inaugural function.

Earth Day to be observed

The Earth and Environment Society, Department of Environmental Science and School of Earth and Environmental Sciences of the CUHP are organising Earth Day on April 22.

The theme is “Green Cities”, and the programme will start at the Temporary Academic Block of the university at Shahpur.

CUHP Pro Vice-Chancellor Yoginder Singh Verma yesterday said this type of initiative showed that the university was playing a proactive role in protecting the environment. The programme would save biodiversity and help students understand their role in in a more effective manner, Professor Verma added.

Dr Subhankar Chatterjee, convener of the programme, said it would focus on disaster management, environment pollution and its impact on health, waste management, climate change and biodiversity conservation. 

Sundernagar, April 21
Residents of 35 mohals adjoining Sundernagar town are up in arms against the notification issued by the government on March 4 vide which the 35 mohal area was taken under the purview of the Town and Country Planning Act.

After the notification, certain restrictions were imposed on them, which irked them. Residents yesterday assembled and formed Sangharsh Samiti to oppose the notification. They said they would launch a stir against the decision, which according to them was imposed without consulting them.

Joginder Singh Thakur was elected samiti president, Chuni Lal Sharma vice-president, Diwan Chand Kaundal general secretary, Mohan Lal Gupta joint secretary and Ashwani Saini press secretary. Joginder said: “The samiti has started holding mohal-wise meetings. It will represent the matter before the government and, if needed, we will start an agitation and challenge the notification in the court as well.”

Kangra, April 21
The Dronacharya College of Education, Rait, was awarded the Best College in Rural Himachal Pradesh award for imparting quality education to rural youth, besides achieving excellence in the field of education.

Principal PK Sharma today said the award was given at the National Himachal Pradesh Educational Summit and Awards 2014 function, which was organised by the Association of India Communication Multimedia and Infrastructure and supported by Himachal Pradesh University, All-India Council for Technical Education and Association of Indian Universities. The award, received by college executive director BS Pathania, was presented by Himachal Pradesh University Vice-Chancellor ADN Bajpai in the presence of Sunita Mukerjee, former UNFPA representative, and Rahul Sharma, Director of the Vedanta Group.

The college managing director congratulated teaching and non-teaching staff of the college for this achievement.