Dharamsala, June 7
BJP MP from Hamirpur and president of the HPCA Anurag Thakur today appeared in the court of the CJM, Kangra, and was granted bail in a case registered against him and other BJP leaders for holding a protest outside the office of the SP Vigilance, Dharamsala.

Besides Anurag, the case was registered against five others under Section 186 of the Indian Penal Code (obstructing public servant in discharge of public functions) on October 24, 2013.

Other BJP leaders, who appeared in the court and were granted bail, included former minister and BJP spokesperson Praveen Sharma, Kutlehar MLA Varinder Kanwar, former state Bhartiya Janata Yuva Morcha chief Narender Atri and HPCA spokesperson Sanjay Sharma.

One of the accused former Kangra district BJP spokesperson Vishaw Chakshu Puri has already secured a bail in the case. The court also issued bailable warrants against state BJP media co-in charge Hemanshu Mishra who failed to appear before the court

The court directed the accused to furnish a bail bond of Rs 10,000 each.

The case pertains to an incident that occurred on October 24, 2013, when Anurag had visited the Vigilance Bureau office at Dharamsala to join investigation in a case of cheating registered against the HPCA.

Anurag’s supporters, who accompanied him, had staged a protest on the Vigilance Bureau office premises.

Initially, the Vigilance had summoned Anurag to appear before the investigating officer on October 24. He alleged that the Vigilance had deliberately called him to join investigation on his birthday. After a controversy, the Vigilance postponed the summoning of Anurag to October 31.

However, adamant to join the investigation on the earlier fixed date, Anurag visited the Vigilance office on October 24. He also held a rally at Dharamsala on the day and his supporters accompanied him to the Vigilance office in a procession.

While a few of his supporters, including the former minister and Kutlehar MLA, entered the office of the Superintendent of Police (SP), Vigilance, North Zone, while others protested outside raising slogans against state government and investigation agency.

The Vigilance Bureau had booked Anurag and six others under Section 186 of the IPC which amounts to causing disruption and preventing a public servant from performing his duty.

Anurag refused to comment on the case citing that matter is sub judice.

Palampur, June 7
Technical experts of the Geological Survey of India (GSI) today ruled out the possibility of magnetic activities in the hills of Darang village where a “black-coloured chemical and volcano-like flames” were erupting from the rocks for the past fortnight.

A team of geological experts, headed by Parashant Ilamkar and Shyam Sunder, along with officials of the state government, visited the spot last night. They said no magnetic activities were detected on the spot.

They were of the view that since 33-KV high-voltage transmission lines of the HP State Electricity Board were passing through the site, rocks were melting because of the reverse current reaction in the electricity poles during rain, which was also resulting in the release of black chemicals and flames.

They said magnetic activities were always found 10 km in the earth, but the situation did not exist here. Both experts said such unusual activities were also detected at Nalagarh in Solan district a few years ago. But later nothing was found and the spot was abandoned.

However, a team of engineers of the Electricity Board disagreed with the theory of the geological experts. They said reverse current reaction in the transmission lines and poles was not at all possible.

Vidya Sagar Thakur, Executive Engineer, HPSEB, Palampur, said there were hundreds of kilometres of transmission lines in the region, passing through forests and rocks, but such reverse current reaction was never reported.

He categorically stated that if there had been reverse current reaction the entire power grid would have tripped, resulting in complete power failure in the area.

Vidya Sagar said in the same forest there were half a dozen electricity poles of similar height, supporting 33-KV transmission lines, but flames and chemical were coming out of one particular point.

New Delhi, June 7
The six-storey Himachal Bhawan, located at a prime location in Delhi, will undergo renovation. Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh has directed officers to complete the project expeditiously. He visited the bhawan yesterday to have a first-hand view of the building.

He told the officials that Rs 2 crore had already been released for the project.

The bhawan housing 56 rooms, including a suite each for the Governor, the Chief Minister and the Chief Secretary, had come in operation in 1982.

It holds its sway among the Himachalis here, even though Himachal Sadan was set up in Chanakyapuri in the 1990s with a view to expand the accommodation to visiting functionaries from the state.

Kulbhushan Sharma, a native of Jwalamukhi in Kangra district, who is a social activist and resides in Delhi, said, “The bhawan gives me a sense of pride about my home state. There is an aristocratic halo to it, especially on account of its high-profile locus”.

Shimla, June 7
Himachal Pradesh University (HPU) today deferred the decision on fee hike issue amid protests by students and decided to evolve a new fee structure based on price index, rationalisation and on the actual expenses incurred on it.

The Resource Mobilisation Committee (RMC), which met here under the chairmanship of Vice-Chancellor ADN Bajpai, took a consensus decision that the Himachal Board of School Education would be the base for re-structuring and it would only be implemented after the approval of the Executive Council.

Students Central Association (SCA) activists, who were standing outside the VC office to submit a memorandum, a five-point charter on why the fee should not be hiked, to the members of the RMC, alleged that the police resorted to cane charge when they reached near the VC's office to submit a memorandum and the police allegedly roughed up the activists.

SCA joint secretary Monika Dhadda alleged that the cane-charge was uncalled for and the police used brutal force on peaceful students. Even girls were manhandled by the police on the directions of the university authorities, she said, adding that a few students, including Vijay, Vikram, Ajay and Sanjeev, also sustained minor injuries.

The police denied the charge and said it only prevented the students from reaching the venue of the RMC meeting in the VC office and did not resort to any use of force. DSP Shiv Chaudhry said a police constable sustained injuries during the incident.

At the meeting, it was also decided to restructure and broad base the Resource Mobilisation Committee in addition to Harish Janartha and Waryam Singh (both EC members), Deans of Studies and Student Welfare, the Registrar, the Secretary to the VC, the Controller of Examination, the Director, ICDEOL, the Director, UCBS, Prof CL Chandan, Prof Kailash Thakur, Dr NS Bist and Finance Officer who would be convenor of the committee.

It was also discussed that BBA and BCA should be run by the university by giving franchise to the institutions situated within Himachal Pradesh. The proposed fee hike from 2012-13 onward was almost double the fee proposed in 2006, but was still lower than that in the neighbouring universities and the HP Board of School Education.

The proposed examination fee was Rs 400 for BA and BCom, Rs 450 for BSc, Rs 2,400 for each semester of MBBS, Rs 2000 for BDS, Rs 3000 for MD/MS, Rs 2000 for BTech and BTech(IT) and Rs 1500 for MBA. The fee for private students was Rs 100 to Rs 400 more in each course.

Shimla, June 7
Students of the first semester of undergraduate classes are a worried lot as hasty implementation of the Rashtriya Uchhatar Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA) has created a mess in the examination branch which is not in a position to set a time frame for results.

Classes for the second semester will start by the June-end, but the results of the first semester are unlikely to be declared as the rectification of discrepancies relating to awards, codes and generation of 14-digit roll numbers will start on June 10 and it will take time.

RUSA was implemented without taking the examination branch into confidence and the Controller of Examination.

Sources in the examination branch revealed that discrepancies have been detected in 90,000 cases in almost all colleges affiliated to the HPU.

Apart from the generation of roll numbers, colleges have not provided the soft copy as asked. There are mistakes in codes and awards of subjects and the examination branch is still waiting for the software which should have been provided before the implementation of RUSA.

Moreover, the self-speaking software which had to take care of everything is not ready yet.

While the number of subjects in each semester has increased from four to seven under RUSA, a majority of the staff is not familiar with the newly introduced “standard deviation” for giving the grades. There will be seven grades, three each on the higher and lower side of mean, calculation of which is a statistical exercise.

The duplication of the “data transfer” exercise has added to the burden and the shortage of trained staff is delaying the declaration of results. Executive Council member Chowdhary Waryam Singh said, adding that there were about 150 vacant posts in the examination branch alone.

Dharamsala, June 7
The foundation stone of the Central University Himachal Pradesh (CUHP) will soon be laid at Dehra. BJP MP from Hamirpur Anurag Thakur, who was here today to appear in the CJM court in a case registered against him, said this while talking to newsmen.

Anurag said he would take the issue of CUHP in the current session of Parliament.

"Efforts will be made to get the environmental clearances for the land on which the institution is proposed to come up. I will meet the Union ministers and the stone of the university will be laid at Dehra soon," Anurag said.

The issue of permanent campus of the CUHP is hanging fire since its establishment four years ago.

The previous BJP government in the state had proposed two campuses -- one at Dharamsala and another at Dehra -- for CUHP in Kangra district.

The 20 per cent campus of the university, including administrative offices and some colleges of humanities, were proposed to come up at Dharamsala, while 80 per cent campus was proposed at Dehra.

The BJP government had offered nearly 200 acres for its campus at Dharamsala and nearly 500 acres at Dehra.

Since the land given was forest land, the case of allotment of land got stuck with the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests.

After the Congress government came to power in the state in 2012, it sent a new proposal to the Union Ministry of Human Resource and Development proposing 80 per cent of the campus at Dharamsala and a small portion at Dehra.

In the revised proposal, the government allotted nearly 400 acres for the campus at Dharamsala and around 200 acre for Dehra.

Now, both proposals are pending with the Ministry of Environment and Forests and HRD. Dehra falls in the constituency of Anurag.

Anurag further said efforts would also be made to set up a Circuit Bench of the High Court of Himachal Pradesh in Dharamsala.

He also said the government would identify the families of soldiers of the Dogra regiment who fought the World War-I and honour them. "I will also meet British Ambassador to India in this regard," said Thakur.

Anurag also said the sports body will set up a cricket museum at its international cricket stadium, Dharamsala, to attract the tourists.

The Dharamsala stadium is emerging as a tourist spot among the people visiting the state and we will set up a cricket museum here to attract more tourists," he said.

Green nod awaited
Efforts will be made to get environmental clearances for the land on which the institution is proposed to come up. I will meet the Union ministers and the stone of the university will be laid at Dehra soon — Anurag Thakur, Hamirpur MP

Kangra, June 7
A student of Government Polytechnic College was drowned in the Banner khud where he had gone to take a bath, along with four other students, here today, the police said.

Kangra Additional SHO Budhi Prakash said the deceased, identified as Deepam (18), was pursuing the mechanical trade in the college. The other students accompanying him were identified as Parveen, Rajat, Akhil and Sunder.

The SHO said after taking their board exam, all the five students reached the khud to have a bath when Deepam slipped into the river and was drowned.

Rajinder Kumar, Fire Officer, Kangra Fire Station, said soon after getting information they reached the spot. Personnel of the Fire Brigade, along with policemen, fished out the body which was stuck under a rock in the river.

The police said the body was sent for postmortem and the parents of the deceased were intimated about the tragedy.

Solan, June 7
Manufacturing vaccines at the Central Research Institute (CRI), Kasauli, has been adversely hit due to the unavailability of vaccine vial monitor (VVM) labels from the past six to eight months.

The VVMs have been made mandatory by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and are supposed to be affixed to each vial as well as on every box of vaccines. Their unavailability has delayed the labelling and subsequent dispatching process of the vaccines.

The VVM is a propriety item, produced by a single manufacturer in the world, and the director of the Central Research Institute could not execute its purchase which has to be routed through the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

The new manufacturing facility, where trial batches of DPT group vaccines are underway, is yet to begin commercial production. This facility was set up with an investment of Rs 11 crore.

The production of tetanus, underway at the old manufacturing facility, has hit a roadblock due to the unavailability of VVMs. With an expiry period of one and a half year only, the vaccine has lost nearly 50 per cent of its shelf life.

The institute is able to manufacture only serums now, including anti-rabies, anti-venom serums.

The institute, which was initially the sole public-sector institute producing Japanese encephalitic vaccine in the country and contributed to the Universal Immunisation Programme by producing a major chunk of DPT group vaccines, is now struggling to produce even its flagship products.

The absence of tubular vials, needed in the GMP lab, has also rendered the manufacturing process handicapped. Since purchases beyond Rs 1 crore are to be made by the ministry, the institute has been awaiting receipt of such vials.

Dr Sunil Gupta, Director of the institute, said despite invitation of tenders by the ministry, the absence of adequate bidders led to cancellation of the process. The institute was now trying to buy smaller quantities of such vials.

He said the issue of purchase of vaccine vial monitors is awaiting clearance from the customs and would be available soon.

Kangra, June 7
A 42-year-old man, Sanjeev Kumar, of Sadhu Bargran village today was electrocuted when he fell into a natural water source (bowri) which had electric current flowing in it, the police said here.

Kangra Additional Station House Officer Budhi Prakash said Sanjeev was lifting water from the bowri, adjacent to his residence, with an electric water pump when a naked live wire came in touch with the water of the bowri and Sanjeev fell into it and died of electrocution.

The police took out the body and sent it for postmortem and started investigation under Section 174, Criminal Procedoure Code