Nurpur, June 27
Having lost all hopes of returning home safely from strife-torn Iraq, the four youths from Kangra, who eventually came back, are critical of lack of assistance from Indian Embassy officials in Baghdad to facilitate the safe return of those stranded there.

Even as their hopes of making a fast buck in Iraq have been dashed, Rakesh Singh of Bahi-Pathiar, Sham Singh of Ghoran near Indora, Tarsem and Sanjiv of Dhar-Bhanguri bordering Dhar block are more than relieved now. It was late last night that all four of them returned to their native places.

It was barely a month back on May 21 that the four had visited Iraq to work with Marmara Engineering and Construction Company at Karbala on a handsome salary of $530 per month.

They rue that the stranded Indians in various parts of Iraq have been left to the mercy of travel agents who are fleecing every one who is caught in the turmoil. They said the Indian Government must take more pains to ensure the safety of its people stuck in Iraq.

“There are 231 workers from India who were stranded in Iraq and about 24 from Himachal but there is little help pouring in from the embassy in Iraq,” laments Rakesh.

He says that the stranded youths are feeling helpless as they do not have neither a penny, nor passport or visa documents.

He said workers had not been paid money by the company which had deserted their staff, leaving them to die in the most unsafe environs in an alien country.

“Indian Embassy officials have been asking anyone, seeking help, to travel on their own to Baghdad, which is almost 150 km. But under the present scenario, this is risky to reach there,” he said.

The return of 12 youths of Himachal could become possible only after the company returned their passports and their families back home arranged online tickets for them. “Being Indian nationals, it is the responsibility of the embassy to ensure evacuation of its citizens within Iraq and later to India,” they said.

“With no money and food stocks getting exhausted, we had given up all hopes of returning home but God has been kind and we are back with our loved ones,” said Ashok. He added that company officers and other workers, hailing from Turkey, had abandoned everything and left for their homeland, leaving 231 workers in the lurch.

Kangra, June 27
Former Union Minister and MP Shanta Kumar today urged the Centre to ensure the release of the Kangra youths from the captivity of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria militants in Iraq.

Shanta Kumar said the kin of the youths working in strife-torn Iraq were worried about their safety. He said the relatives of Aman Kumar of Passu village in Dharamsala, Inderjeet of Lunj, Kangra, and Sandeep Kumar of Dameta were extremely disturbed.

“Unemployed youths looking for work in different countries are misled by travel agents. The Union Government should take action to prevent their exploitation by travel agents in future,” He said. He urged the Centre to take all necessary steps for the safe return of the stranded youths so that their relatives were relieved of the trauma they were suffering from.

New Delhi, June 27
The Himachal Pradesh Government will make a fresh bid to club tribal districts of Lahaul-Spiti and Kinnaur in the state with Leh-Ladakh in Jammu and Kashmir for the formation of Himalayan Triangle.

Major Vijay Mankotia, Vice-Chairman of the Himachal Pradesh Tourism Development Board, said the state government had submitted a proposal regarding this to the previous NDA government but no headway was made on it. “The state will soon take up the issue with the Union Government,” he said.

The state had taken up the issue with Jammu and Kashmir but to no avail. The state government wants the cooperation of the J&K Government for the success of the concept. Mankotia said that the districts had Buddhist followers in large numbers besides a rich Budhist heritage.

In its earlier proposal to the Centre, the state had stressed that the proposed Himalayan Triangle would be a hot spot for both domestic and international tourists, especially for the tourists from Buddhist countries.

The state had stressed that the improvement in road and air connectivity within the proposed zone was imperative for the mobility of tourists.

The state government has already pushed for the expansion of its airports. At a meeting with Union Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju recently, Mankotia sought the help of the Centre in its expansion plan.

The state has already introduced a helicopter service to give a fillip to tourism. Mankotia had urged the Union Minister to provide subsidy for the helicopter service, which was introduced on the pattern of north-eastern states.

Presently, the state has 63 operational helipads. The government has sought assistance from the Centre to expand the heli-taxi services, which is presently confined to Manimahesh (Chamba) during the Manimahesh Yatra.

Work in progress The state government has already pushed for the expansion of its airports At a meeting with Union Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju recently, Mankotia sought the help of the Centre in its expansion plan The state has already introduced a helicopter service to give a fillip to tourism. Mankotia had urged the Union Minister to provide subsidy for the helicopter service, which was introduced on the pattern of north-eastern states

Hamirpur, June 27
Former Chief Minister PK Dhumal thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari for doubling the budget of national highways in the state.

Dhumal said the Prime Minister promised to watch the interests of the state, which the NDA government had demonstrated during their first-month rule by increasing the budget.

He said the previous UPA government had discriminated against the state and did not provide substantial aid to the state.

The initiative of the NDA government to double the budget for the national highways has proved the commitment and concern of the NDA government towards issues of public concern.

Dhumal asked the state government to prepare and submit a project report on national highways within 10 days to the Central government.

Shimla, June 27
Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh today announced to make Kupvi a tehsil in the Chopal area of Shimla and Haripurdhar in Renuka of Sirmour a sub-tehsil to facilitate administrative works for the convenience of people of these remote areas.

Addressing a public meeting at Kupvi, the Chief Minister said Kupvi would be made a tehsil as a special case because of its backwardness and hard topography. Kupvi is located at a distance of about 150 km from Chopal and has eight backward gram panchayats under it.

He said Himachal had many areas with hard topographical conditions which needed to be developed. He said the government would ensure that all far-flung and remote areas got the road connectivity and other development projects were carried out at a faster pace.

Virbhadra said education infrastructure would be strengthened in these remote areas so that children not to traverse long distances to attend school. He said plans were afoot to open schools almost in every corner of the state so that no child was deprived of education.

Later addressing a public meeting at Haripurdhar, he said it was the priority of the government to ensure speedy and all-round development of the far-flung areas by provide road link, health and educational facilities. He added that it was during the Congress regime that various educational institutions and government offices were opened in the Renuka constituency. The Congress government had also opened a PWD division at Haripurdhar, but it was closed by the previous BJP government, he stated.

Virbhadra said the government was making efforts to construct hostels for colleges in the far-flung areas so as to facilitate girl students in getting better education. He said efforts would be made to construct girls hostel for Haripurdhar college as well. He directed the authorities to speed up the ongoing construction work of the college building.

Those present included Chief Parliamentary Secretary Vinay Kumar, Harsh Wardhan Chauhan, Chairman, State Employment Generation and Resource Mobilization Board, and president of the District Sirmaur Congress Committee Ajay Solanki.

The Chief Minister laid the foundation stone of Rs 1.12 crore Lift Water Supply Scheme at Boharat in Gumma and inaugurated the Tarahan-Kanda-Banah road completed at a cost of Rs 3.52 crore and and the Kupvi-Mashot-Dochi-Kanah road completed at a cost of Rs 3.76 crore.

Shimla, June 27
The HP High Court has handed over the investigation into the case of mysterious death of National Security Guard (NSG) commando to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

A Division Bench comprising Justice Rajiv Sharma and Justice Sureshwar Thakur passed this order on a petition filed by Kishori Lal alleging that no sincere efforts were made by the local police to trace out the real culprits.

It was alleged in the petition that his son was working as a commando in the NSG and was posted in Delhi. His son had come to home on casual leave in February 2013. On February 12, 2013, he had gone to the Una railway station for getting his ticket reserved. But he did not return to home. The petitioner lodged a missing report of his son on February 13.

Thereafter, the body of his son was found lying in a forest near Joh village in Una district. An FIR (No.14/2013) was registered on February15, 2013, at the Gagret police station.

While handing over the investigation to the CBI, the court observed that “in the instant case, though an FIR was registered on 2013, the real culprits had not been brought to book till date. However, in the case, it is evident that no sincere efforts had been made by the investigating agency to trace the real culprits. The agency had taken unnecessarily a long period for investigation. The court is satisfied that the matter is required to be handed over to the CBI for investigation”.

The court directed the agency to hand over the investigation of the FIR (No. 14/2013) registered at the Gagret police station (Una) to the SP, Central Bureau of Investigation, Shimla, and further directed the CBI to investigate the matter within a period of eight weeks thereafter and file challan in the competent court, if prima facie case is made out against any of the accused.

Shimla, June 27
Taking a serious note of the issue of illegal mining in several parts of the state, the National Green Tribunal (NGT) directed the state to file a status report in this regard. The NGT passed this order on a petition alleging that illegal mining activities were carried out in the Pabbar river in Shimla district. During the course of hearing, it was informed by the state that the river was inspected on March 27 and various cases of illegal mining, illegal removal of sand and other incidental matters (39 cases) were found.

It further informed that when the inspection was made in April, no illegal mining was found being carried out at the site in question.

However, the counsel for the petitioner placed on record some photographs showing that illegal and unauthorised mining was in practice right from the middle of the river.

According to him, the photographs were taken on May 20 and he alleged that there was illegal mining going on in the river. The NGT, headed by Justice Swatantar Kumar, further directed the state to file an affidavit in response to these photographs within two weeks.

As for the 39 cases of illegal mining, the tribunal directed the state to issue notices to the culprits asking them to appear before the NGT and show cause why they were not directed to pay compensation for restoration of the environment and ecology which had been damaged due to illegal mining.

NGT seeks info on fire messaging system

With a view to controlling forest fires in the state, the National Green Tribunal (NGT) directed the state government to file an affidavit clearly stating that how much time was taken by the satellite in sending messages in the event of a forest fire. The order was passed by the NGT, headed by Justice Swatantar Kumar, while holding its circuit court sitting here yesterday on suo motu proceedings initiated by it.

However, it was informed by the Forest Department that it had taken measures to install the GIS-based fire alerts messaging system.

Fact file The NGT passed the order on a petition alleging that illegal mining activities were carried out in the Pabbar river in Shimla district. The state government had informed the tribunal informed that during an inspection in April, it was found that illegal mining was not being carried out at the site in question. However, the counsel for the petitioner placed on record some photographs showing illegal mining

Solan, June 27
Acceding to the demand of investors to ease stringent norms of Section 118 of the HP Tenancy and Land Reforms Act, 1972, the state government has finally initiated a move to execute this change.

The step will facilitate investors who had been facing the rigors of getting this clearance after following a tedious time-consuming procedure spanning months. The move follows an announcement made by Industry Minister Mukesh Agnihotri in Baddi recently where he expressed his resolve to ease the approvals.

Vinod Khurana, president of the Nalagarh Industries Association, said the state government should consider giving conditional approvals till the stipulations of Section 118 were eased so that investment could flow in with ease. Since the process had already begun, undue delays could be curtailed by giving such conditional approvals.

Industrial associations such as the Himachal chapter of the CII had been demanding relaxation in this norms as the the Act was an impediment in the re-sale of industrial plots where a new owner too had to follow the same tedious procedure of getting this approval.

Director, Industries, Rajinder Singh said since new investors were making queries and nearly 12 applications from prospective investors had been received for various industrial areas such as Baddi, Kala Amb, Kangra, Una, etc. Apart from this, six new projects had been approved while five existing industries were undertaking expansion.

He added that investor meets were also being planned to attract big business houses to invest and added that its nitty-gritty was also being worked out. Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Ludhiana, etc, would be targeted and even foreign embassies would be contacted to invite investment from abroad.

The flow of investment had declined after the lapse of the Central industrial package in March 2010 and the mandatory condition of taking permission under Section 118 by an outsider desirous of buying land was deterring investors.

Shimla, June 27
The Himachal Road Transport Corporation today decided to give financial benefits to 8,000 employees on the analogy of Assured Career Progression Scheme (ACPS) 4-9-14 and do away with the 48-hour duty roaster.

The decisions were taken during a meeting of Board of Directors (BoD) chaired by Transport Minister GS Bali, here today.

The minister said the BoD decided to construct nine new bus stands in the state on Built-Operate-Transfer (BOT) basis and efforts would be made to obtain the forest clearances at the earliest.

He said approval has also been granted to open four more depots of the Himachal Road Transport Corporation (HRTC) at Nerwa in Shimla district, Karsog in Mandi district, Nagrota in Kangra district and Parwanoo in Solan district.

Bali said the HRTC was making every effort to increase its income and the BoD also decided to display advertisements on all bus stands and inside the buses through LCD’s. It was also decided in the meeting to divide the bus stands into three categories.

In another significant decision, it has been decided to extend taxi service plying presently in Shimla to other parts of the state and tenders have been invited for 75 routes.

The minister said 500 new buses were being included in the fleet of the HRTC and it would also get 800 more buses under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM).

Besides, the BoD also decided to conduct a written examination before August 24, 2014, for the recruitment of drivers and conductors.

Kangra, June 27
The town was lashed by heavy rain this afternoon dropping the temperatures and providing relief to residents from the scorching heat.

The day was as usual sunny, hot and humid today but at 4.30 pm, the sky was overcast and the town and its suburbs received rain which lasted for an hour.

Mandi, June 27
The Himachal PWD Majdoor Ekta Union, affiliated with CITU, held a demonstration at the office of the Executive Engineer of the PWD Joginder Nagar, yesterday, to protest the delay in implementation of a Labour Court order.

Hundreds of workers led by Kissan Sabha leader Kushal Bhardwaj assembled at the PWD office, raised slogans and also submitted a memorandum to the XEN.

Addressing workers, Bhardwaj said the department was not implementing the court order to regularise the services of employees and adopting pick-and-chose policy in regularising them. The union has demanded regularisation of services of the workers as per court order.

Solan, June 27
The presence of doctors at the local Regional Hospital remained thin as many doctors went on leave today. The absence of all three medical specialists caused inconvenience to patients who had come from far-flung areas.

Though the number of doctors is less in the hospital, nearly half of the doctors went on leave while the flow of patients remained unchanged. There are 24 doctors in the hospital.

Chief Medical Officer Dr RK Gupta said the doctors were either attending to their usual duties like court cases or had some personal problems to solve. He, however, added that they would ensure the presence of enough doctors at the hospital. In the absence of doctors, large queues were seen in the hospital.

Crisis Though the number of doctors is less in the hospital, nearly half of the doctors went on leave while the flow of patients remained unchanged There are 24 doctors in the hospital

Palampur, June 27
Trilok Kapoor, national spokesperson of the tribal welfare unit of the BJP, met Union Tribal Development Minister Jualo Ram at the Orissa Bhawan in New Delhi last evening and urged him to pay attention to the development of tribal areas in Kangra and Chamba districts, who have been neglected for long.

Kapoor told the minister that the tribal status was granted to the Gaddis and Gujjars of Kangra and Chamba in 2003 by the NDA government but funds had not been sanctioned for the development of the tribal areas in the districts for the past 11 years.

“Neither the state nor Union Government bothered to provide funds for the development of the tribal areas in the district, resulting in slow pace of development,” he said. He told the minister that the successive state governments had extended a step-motherly treatment to the communities. He said whatever funds were allocated by the Centre, they were spent for the development of Lauhal-Spiti and Kinnaur while Kangra and Chamba were ignored.

Kapoor said the minister had assured him to provide funds for the development of tribal areas in the districts where a large number of tribals lived. “The minister has directed the department to look into the issue and release funds for the development of the tribal areas,” Kapoor added.

Una, June 27
Industry Minister Mukesh Agnihotri today said the BJP unit of Haroli was a harried lot and was politicising the issue of drug menace against the state Congress.

Talking to mediapersons at Haroli, Agnihotri said after the incidence of a death case due to drug overdose, the government had exhibited political will and the security agencies nabbed 17 persons involved in the illegal act.

He said the police, CID and the Narcotics Department took swift action to check the unlawful activities.

He said the BJP had trailed in Haroli segment by a margin of 7,000 votes during the recent Lok Sabha elections. He alleged that as per his reports, some of the BJP supporters in Haroli segment were also involved in drug trafficking.

Reacting to the involvement of state BJP president Satpal Singh Satti and Kutlehar MLA Virender Kanwar in a dharna organised by Haroli BJP against drug mafia recently, Agnihotri said the show was a big flop with no public support. — OC

Una, June 27
Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal had commissioned a sewage system in the town in 2012. Over two years have elapsed, but it is still lying unutilised as there are no takers for it.

Two treatment plants, one in Rampur village and another at the Chanderlok Colony are lying unutilised.

Work on the sewerage scheme had begun nearly 15 years ago and after a string of delays, it finally saw the light of day on April 12, 2012.

Designed to cater to a projected population of 32,790 till 2029, the total length of the sewer line is 34,669 metres.

The Irrigation and Public Health (IPH) Department is the implementing agency for the project. Depending on the topography of the city, the 11 municipal wards have been divided into five zones, the smallest being zone C, catering to the Neela Ghat area, having just one septic tank.

The city area towards the left of Una khud falls under zone D and its treatment plant has been constructed in Chanderlok colony.

The majority area of the city, covered under zones A and B will ultimately drain the generated sewer into the treatment plant constructed at Rampur village. It is learnt that only zone C is functional with 212 connections, while there are still no connections in zones A, B and D.

IPH Executive Engineer Mukesh Hira, when contacted, said the total treatment capacity of the two plants was 3.1 million litre sewer per day and at least 40 per cent of the expected 6,500 connections needs to be activated to make the plan functional.

He said during the last monsoon, the municipal authorities had opened some manholes to tackle flooding in the city, adding that consequently, some sewer lines got clogged.

NK Trivedi, Superintending Engineer of the Una IPH circle, said the clogged drains were being cleared and it would take about a month to complete the task. He said even if the government residential quarters, offices and commercial establishments were connected to the system, it could be made functional.

He appealed to people to get sewer connections, whose one-time connection charges were Rs 400 for a domestic and Rs 800 for a commercial seat.

Solan, June 27
Following claims of installing a dedicated substation for the Rs 64-crore Potable Giri Water Scheme in June, the transmission wing of the HP State Electricity Board Limited (HPSEBL) has set July 15 as a new deadline for its commissioning.

Board officials claimed that most of the work on the substation had been completed and it would be commissioned by July 15. However, the project had missed several deadlines in the past.

Notably, the potable water scheme was inaugurated in April 2008 and was supposed to supply water to 131 villages in Kasauli and Solan till 2036. In the absence of a dedicated substation, the Irrigation and Public Health (IPH) Department has been running the scheme on an ad hoc basis by drawing power from a 33-kv line in Solan.

Notably, power fluctuation is affecting the smooth functioning of the scheme. Owing to regular fluctuation in voltage, the Irrigation and Public Health Department has suffered losses worth crores due to the breakdown of machinery.

Interestingly, IPH Department had deposited Rs 14 crore with the transmission wing of the HPSEBL for the setting up of the the substation. The work was delayed as several contractors left the work in the midway.

Mandi, June 27
Ram Swaroop Sharma, BJP MP from Mandi, initiated the revival of salt mining project in Gumma-Darang areas of Mandi district. Sharma met the Union Ministers concerned recently and discussed the project.

Centuries-old rock salt mines at Gumma and Darang in Mandi have estimated reserves of 116 metric tonnes of rock salt and is the only salt mine in North India. Earier, Hindustan Salt Limited extracted salt manually for decades.

“The setting up of a plant is expected to provide employment to 400 people. Starting of the salt mining project is one of my top priorities,” said Sharma.— TNS

Solan, June 27
Shoolini University is conferred with the ‘International League Indian Institutes Great Place to Study, 2014’ award by Skill Tree Global Knowledge Consortium in London.

Vishal Anand, founder trustee of the university received the award by British MP Bob Blackman at the House of Commons in London.Skill Tree Knowledge is a global consortium, comprising a panel of experts engaged in various fields.

A university spokesman said the award was conferred on the basis of transparency in governance, basic infrastructure, placements, international tie-ups, awards and accolades, quality of faculty, research driven model and over all leadership contribution of the university.

Shoolini University is in alliance with various leading international universities. The university is also running a sprint programme for providing soft skills in communication, aptitude development and technical subject matter. The university also undertake online lectures to supplement the classroom teaching. Around 750 students of the university are placed by around 103 leading Indian and multi-national companies. 

Kullu, June 27
Stephen Alain (48), a citizen of France, was found dead in a room of a guest house at old Manali yesterday. The police said the deceased had arrived from Dharamsala on June 25.

The body has been sent for a post-mortem to the Tanda hospital. Sanjay Sharma, DSP, Kullu, has infomed the French consulate about the death. The investigation is on and the reason of his death is unknown.