Solan, July 13
Four persons were killed and 31 others injured, including 19 seriously, when a Himachal Road Transport Corporation (HRTC) bus (HP-64-6294) in which they were travelling, veered off the road and fell into a ditch at Dhiarighat near Solan around 8:45 am today.

The bus was on the way to Shimla from Solan.

DSP (Headquarters) Hemant Kumar said the exact cause of the accident was yet to be ascertained though preliminary inquiries revealed that the driver had to take a sharp turn towards the valley side to save an Alto car which was coming from the opposite side.

Solan resident Sunita Devi (36) succumbed to her injuries in the Kandaghat hospital, while Nepalese woman Bajnu Devi (35) was killed on the spot. Padam Bahadur (40), who was shifted to the Regional Hospital in Solan, succumbed to his injuries there and another local youth Aakash (21), who was referred to the IGMC, Shimla, died in Shimla.

As many as 19 injured persons were shifted to the IGMC, Shimla, while 14 others were receiving treatment at the Regional Hospital in Solan.

Governor Urmila Singh and Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh have expressed condolences with the bereaved family members.

The Chief Minister directed the administration to provide immediate relief to the family members of the deceased and those injured in the accident. He also directed the hospital administration to provide best treatment to the injured.

Transport Minister GS Bali rushed to the spot and took stock of the rescue and relief operations after receiving information about the accident. Later, he also went to the IGMC to enquire about the well-being of the injured.

Bali said a departmental inquiry had been ordered into this accident and it would be conducted by the Deputy Manager (Technical) of the HRTC.

An immediate relief of Rs 25,000 was given to the kin of the deceased, while Rs 5,000 to Rs 15,000 were handed over to the injured depending on the quantum of injuries by the Deputy Commissioner Madan Chauhan.

Dharamsala, July 13
The recently opened government colleges in the state are without faculty or infrastructure and four such colleges in Kangra and Chamba districts are a clear illustration of the fact.

The present Congress government had recently opened new government colleges at Nagrota Surian and Kundian in Kangra district and Saluni and Tissa in Chamba district. However, these colleges are without any teacher and are being operated from single rooms taken on rent that too from local government senior secondary schools.

The new government college at Nagrota Surian has started functioning from a room at the local government senior secondary school.

Sources said so far no teacher or a principal has been posted here. About 100 students had taken admission in college and they sit in one room only, and there is no one to teach them.

Sources told The Tribune that the government had ordered tranfer of a principal and teachers at the college, but almost all of them cancelled their transfer orders.

Now, students who have taken admission are in a fix, as there is no one to teach them. Teachers sent to the college have to take turns to teach students.

The Kundian College in Changar area near Jawalamukhi was also one of the 14 new government colleges opened by the present Congress government and here too the situation was no different. The classes have started, but again from one room taken on rent from the local government senior secondary school.

There is just one principal in the college and no lecturer to teach. Students do not even have toilet facility. Sources said the government had posted lecturers here, but most of them had got their transfer orders cancelled.

Another Government College at Haripur Guler in Kangra district was opened by the previous BJP government.

Though established nearly six years ago, the institution still does not have its own building. There is acute shortage of faculty and infrastructure. The college was offering just arts courses and has not been able to start science classes.

The government has opened government colleges in Saluni and Tissa, the most remote areas in Chamba district. However, both colleges do not have any building and there is acute shortage of faculty as well.

Most of the new government colleges are a result of announcements made by politicians just before the Lok Sabha or Assembly polls. The politicians in the state announce new government colleges to attract the electorate. After the elections the colleges start in single rooms without any faculty to make a mockery of higher education.

Even colleges, including Government College, Shahpur, that were started decades ago in Himachal are still without proper infrastructure or faculty.

Shimla, July 13
To reduce the travel time for passengers crossing the dams by bus, the Himachal Road Transport Corporation (HRTC) is set to start water ferry service in the Maharana Partap Sagar and Pong dams in Kangra, Gobindsagar dam in Bilaspur and Chamera dam in Chamba for the first time in the state.

The water ways will not only cut down the travel time and distance by 10 km to 30 km between the two destinations around the dams, but will also decongest the road traffic.

The HRTC has identified about 10 shortest routes around the Gobind Sagar, two each around Pong and Chamera dams. The distance will be reduced so will be travel time as HRTC buses have to use the road to ferry passengers from one destination to another around the water bodies, said RN Batta, Managing Director, HRTC, here today.

The HRTC is yet to fix the passengers tariff. “We will run the ferry service on the PPP mode,” said Batta. “The travel will be safer, shorter and pollution-free for which we have invited bids,” he added.

Once the routes were allotted, licences would be granted to private operators who would run the ferries. They were also seeking funds for quality vessels from the Centre, Batta said.

Mandi, July 13
As a section of government college teachers and students are opposing the Choice-Based Credit System (CBCS), introduced in colleges by the state government under the Rashtriya Uchatar Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA), a debate has started here over its merits and demerits

The CBCS was introduced in colleges in the last academic session and admission for the new session has begun in colleges.

Emboldened by the reversal of four-year degree courses in Delhi University, the SFI and the ABVP and the College Teachers Association have also started demanding the reversal of the CBCS system.

The people opposing this system are terming it anti-student and anti-teacher, claiming, “This system has left a large number of students in the lurch as they are not getting admission in their choice of colleges.”

An office-bearer of the College Teachers Association said, “The CBCS is a flop as it was implemented in haste by Himachal Pradesh University (HPU) without infrastructure, planning, software and proper education and information to teachers, students and parents. The university has not received Rs 500 crore promised from the Centre after its implementation as promised.”

He said, “Though it is being said students have options to study courses as per their choice, they are being forced to study the courses for which faculty is available as about 2,000 posts of teacher are vacant and students are not getting admission in colleges near their homes.”

SFI leader Munish Kumar said,“The teacher-student ratio of 1:30 has not been maintained, extra-curricular activities are lacking, provision for 50 per cent internal assessment marks to be given by teachers has left the students at the mercy of teachers. The HPU is so prepared that the results of the first semester exams have not been declared after even after seven months,” he adds.

However, the HPU authorities say, “The CBCS will increase employability by offering them the choice to study subjects of their choice and acquire skills and specialise in a particular subject with multi-disciplinary approach important for getting jobs.”

The Dean, Planning, HPU, Dr PK Ahluwalia, said, “A large number of students completing degree courses under the present system are hardly getting employed and the CBCS will increase their employability.”

“The HPU is getting good funds from the Centre under RUSA and huge infrastructure is being created. Things are improving and awareness and communication will ward off many fears about this system,” he added. 

Argument against

Though it is being said students have options to study courses as per their choice, they are being forced to study the courses for which the faculty is available. As many as 2,000 posts of teacher are vacant and students are not getting admission in colleges near their homes.

For

The CBCS will increase employability by offering students the option to study subjects of their choice and acquire skills and specialise in a particular subject with multi-disciplinary approach important for getting jobs.

Shimla, July 13
Heavy rain lashed the Kangra and Chamba region signalling the revival of monsoon in the state after a lull of 10 days.

Dharamsala in Kangra district received a heavy downpour and the tourist town was drenched with 184 mm of rain till evening.

Baijnath and Kangra received 60 mm and 48 mm of rain, while Chamba had 46 mm rain followed by Jogindernagar 38 mm, Bijahi 29 mm and Saluni 24 mm.

The incessant rain threw life out of gear in the Kangra region, but brought cheer to farmers who were upset over the break in monsoon. The rainfall is considered good for paddy and vegetable crops and sowing of maize.

The sky remained overcast in Shimla, Solan and other places which experienced 3 mm to 5 mm of rain, but there was no significant change in mercury due to high level of humidity.

Una in the Shivalik foothills reeled under sultry heat with mercury staying at 38.7°C, while Bhuntar recorded a high of 35°C, followed by Sundernagar 32.5°C, Nahan 30.8°C, Dharamsala 28.2°C, Solan 28°C, Manali 26.6°C, Kalpa 25.2°C and Shimla 24°C.

The Local MeT office has predicted moderate to heavy rain at some places tomorrow and heavy rains at several places in the mid hills from July 15 onwards.

Palampur, July 13
Rigved Thakur, SDM, Baijnath, conducted an anti-encroachment drive yesterday. A large number of encroachments were removed from the state and national highways passing through Baijnath and Paprola towns.

The SDM said encroachments on the state and national highways had become a matter of concern and were resulting in fatal accidents.

“I had issued notices to the defaulters for the removal of encroachments. But, only a few followed my order. Therefore, the action was taken with the help of the police and the Beopar Mandal,” he added.

He said the Pathankot-Mandi national highway passing through the town had squeezed at several points because of encroachments.

“The Himachal Pradesh Roadside Land Control Act, 1968, prohibits construction within the five-metre radius of state highways and national highways on both the sides, but no one has followed the law,” he added.

Shimla, July 13
Buckling under pressure of private universities and polytechnic colleges, the government is all set to “compromise” with standards of technical education and lower the minimum percentage of marks for admission to 40 per cent.

Technical Education Minister GS Bali had stressed that there would be “no compromise” with the standard of technical education and the minimum percentage for admission would remain at 60 per cent.

However, highly placed sources disclosed that the matter would come at the Cabinet meeting tomorrow and “in all likelihood”, the admission norms would be relaxed.

Sources said a memorandum had already been prepared on the lines of changed stand of the government and the department also expressed reservation over relaxations of norms.

Polytechnic colleges were given the one-time relaxation by the court last year and also asked to deposit the fine but now they are trying to get the percentage down to 35 per cent as nearly 80 per seats in these polytechnics are lying vacant.

Dharamsala, July 13
The recent decision of the NDA government at the Centre to ease norms for granting visa to foreign tourists has rekindled the hopes of those involved in the tourism industry in Dharamsala.

In its maiden Budget, the NDA government proposed that online visa would be provided to tourists at nine main airports of the country.

Due to strict visa norms adopted by the previous UPA government, there was a considerable drop in foreign tourists coming to the area.

The Dharamsala tourism circuit, including McLeodganj, Bhagsu Nag and Dharamkot, used to receive a large number of tourists, especially from Israel, Europe and South American countries. These were budget tourists, who did not have much spending capacity, but stayed in the area for a long time, which even extended up to six months. The longer stay of such tourists sustained the tourism industry in the Dharamsala circuit, where people have developed small guest houses for their stay.

So prominent is the presence of Israeli tourists in the area that Dharamkot village, 2 km uphill from McLeodganj, is referred to as little Israel.

The Israeli tourists have developed shabad houses in Dharamkot where they even solemnise their marriages.

The previous UPA government had restricted visa for Israeli and other tourists who wished to stay in India for longer duration. Once, a condition was made wherein tourists coming from these countries to the country, were not allowed to visit India for a certain amount of time.

Deepak Kumar, a tour operator from McLeodganj said the number of foreign tourists visiting Dharamsala had dropped considerably due to strict visa norms adopted by the previous UPA government.

“There are other factors as well for the decline in the arrival of tourists. Initially, a large number of foreign tourists used to visit Dharamsala to attend the Dalai Lama’s teachings, but now these are held at different places, which is a damper. This year also most of the Kalchakra teachings were held in Leh,” he said.

Pangi (Chamba), July 13
The opening of snow-covered Saach Pass (14,500 feet) for the movement of light vehicles crossing over the pass on the Killar-Chamba highway this week has become an attraction for tourists to enjoy the exquisite Pangi tribal valley and the enchanting glimpse of snow. This highway links the Pangi valley with the rest of Chamba district.

According to an official communiqué issued here today, the Saach Pass remained blocked due to heavy snowfall for about nine months even after winter.

This year, owing to the unfavorable and inclement weather conditions, the pass was opened very late in summer by removing the heavy snow from the highway, the communiqué said.

The communiqué, however, maintained that work was in progress to remove snow from the highway by pressing into service snow-cutters, heavy earthmovers like JCBs etc widening the highway across the Saach Pass so that the heavy vehicular traffic could pass through the high-altitude pass shortly.

Palampur, July 13
Shanta Kumar, senior BJP leader and MP from Kangra, today said the contribution of Swami Ramdev in the victory of the BJP in the elections could not be overlooked as he had played a significant role for bringing the party into power. He said Ramdev had launched a massive campaign against the UPA government which was one of the factors that helped the BJP to root out the UPA from power.

Addressing party workers at the Rotary Bhawan here today, Shanta Kumar said he had defeated Congress candidate Chander Kumar by a record margin of 1,72,000 votes. It was because Swami Ramdev had campaigned for him two days in Kangra and Chamba districts and apprised the voters with anti-people polices and rampant corruption during the UPA regime. Shanta said the swami was a selfless person and had no desire for power, therefore, after victory of the BJP he was again busy in his yoga campaign.

Shanta said he had been elected MP and would continue to serve people. He said strengthening of roads, rail and air network in the region was his top priority and he had already taken up these issues with the government. He said with the rise in vehicular traffic, state roads had narrowed. Therefore, he had requested Union Shipping and Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari for the four-laning of the Pathankot-Mandi national highway. He had also requested the Aviation Minister for the expansion of the runway of the Kangra airport.

Earlier, Shanta Kumar was given a warm welcome by BJP workers when he reached the venue to thank them for his historical victory in the elections.

Shimla, July 13
The fatal road accidents, including the one in which four persons were killed today, are showing no signs of stopping as all talk by Transport Minister GS Bali on safety of passengers have fallen flat.

Despite the fact that the HRTC bus on its way from Solan to Shimla was a new bus has raised a question mark on the safety of passengers.

Over 97 passengers have been killed in the state for the last two years.

In Balghar on the Chopal-Sainj road, 15 persons were killed and 50 others were injured in May.

The Transport Minister have been talking about the passengers safety in the press conferences, but he has done nothing to prevent the mishaps in HRTC buses.

All inquiries ordered in each fatal accident are aimed at silencing the public anger as these inquiries are dumped into the bureaucratic files, resented accident victims.

In every 100 accidents, 30 people are killed and another 150 are injured, who, suffer life-long deformities in many cases, revealed a recent study.

The traffic congestion and bad roads, lack of safe driving culture and road etiquette are causing accidents, the study observed.

Though the Transport Department has fixed 7.5 lakh km as limit to condemn a bus, operators overlook this and drove buses beyond 10 lakh km as there was no mention of any norm fixed in the Motor Vehicle Act, revealed the experts.

Managing Director of the HRTC RN Batta said the corporation was doing a survey on all inquiry reports and would to pinpoint the exact causes of accidents. 

When Shakti Chandel, an active member of the International Roerich Memorial Trust at Kullu, requested me on the telephone to attend the exhibition at the Gaiety Theatre on the 80th anniversary of The Roerich Pact with the theme of ‘History and Modernity’, I postponed my meeting with a friend who had come from Delhi. The exhibition was a combined effort of the trust and the Lalit Kala Academi.

It was a happy gathering as, after a long time, I met Bani Prosonno, the famed artist who also uses stunning colours in his paintings as Nicholas Roerich had used and also Amla Rai, a theatrist. Do you know that when somebody asked, “How is the sight from the space?” Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, the first human to journey into the outer space, replied, “I see the colours of Roerich everywhere.”

Sixtyseven years hence, on December 13, 1947, when an exhibition of paintings by Prof Nikolai Konstantinovich Roerich (see photo) was being arranged in the gallery of the All-India Fine Arts and Crafts Society, New Delhi, his paintings reached there, but not Nikolai. The journey that had started in Russia on October 9, 1874, had come to an end at Naggar in Kullu.

Nicholas saw three forms of the government new to the 20th century — Russian Communism, Italian Fascism, and German Hitlerism — all confronting the old models of governing the nations. He was a witness to the philosophies of Locke and Rousseau being gradually negated by the doctrines of Marx and Hegel and colonialism being attacked by the nationalists.

He lived through a World War and within 20 years, another one on a much vaster scale. There has been life on this planet for the past umpteen years. Still he found that the life of humanity was “nasty, brutish and short.” It was disturbing to him because culture and peace were the most sacred goals of humanity for him. He believed that culture was the synthesis of uplifting and sensitive attainments. It was salvation and the motivating power. He deplored the loss of libraries of Louvain and Oviedo as also the beauty of the Cathedral of Rheims in the wars. But the Apostle of Peace, Messiah of Culture never uttered the words of hatred and ever carried this message –“Let us simply say: destroyed by human ignorance – rebuilt by human hope.”

He dreamt of international understanding and peace through art and beauty. He could incorporate this great ideal in the international pact for the protection of cultural institutions and monuments in times of war and civil commotions, a pact that came to be known as the Roerich Pact. It was on April 15, 1935, that a treaty named “international pact for protection of artistic and scientific institutions, historic monuments, missions and collections” (Roerich Pact) is concluded and signed by representatives of 21 American states at the White House, Washington. A distinctive sign for identification of the protected objects (Banner of Peace) proposed by Roerich was approved in the frameworks of the Pact. The Indian government, headed by Jawaharlal Nehru, approved the Pact in August 1948.

The pact is also known as Pax Cultura (Peace through Culture) and its banner has three encircled dots (see photo). Roerich described the circle as representing the totality of culture, with the three dots being art, science and religion, three of the most embracing of human cultural activities. He also described the circle as representing the eternity of time, encompassing the past, present, and future.

Una, July 13
A 10-day Combined Annual Training Camp (CATC) concluded at Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya at Pekhubela village today. The training camp was organised by 6 (Independent) NCC Company, Una.

As many as 496 cadets from various educational institutions in Una, Kangra, Hamirpur and Bilaspur participated in the camp.

Lt Col Mangat Saini, Camp Commander and Commanding Officer (CO) of the Una NCC unit, said the cadets were trained in rifle shooting, dismantling and assembling of rifles, map reading and drill, besides teaching in military subjects.

He said a number of high-ranked civil and military officers interacted with the cadets.

A camp fire was also organised last night at the school grounds, where the cadets displayed cultural skills.

The CO gave prizes and medals to the winners of various competitions organised during the camp.

Kangra, July 13
An anti-hijacking mock drill on the pattern of the Kandhar hijacking was organised at the Kangra airport here on Thursday. It was aimed to check the level of readiness 
of the police, anti-hijacking squads, security agencies, assault parties and related agencies for any eventuality.

This was fourth such mock drill at this airport since 2009 in view of the increasing terrorist threats by some terrorist organisations and the Kangra airport is also one among the few sensitive airports of the country, KK Sharma, Director, Kangra Airport, said.

Kangra police chief Kapil Sharma, DC C Palrasu, and Additional Deputy Commissioner Sudesh Makohta could not reach the airport because Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh was in the district to attend a passing-out parade at Police Training College, Droah.

Kullu, July 13
Vice-president of the Kullu District Red Cross Society Minakshi Kanwar has earmarked a target to induct one lakh members till August 15.

Addressing women engaged in social service here yesterday, she said over 2,000 members had already been added and more women members from rural and urban areas would be inducted. She stated that free medical camps would be held in rural areas.

Patron, Red Cross Society, Kullu, and former Government College Principal Dhaneshwari Sharma urged women to come forward and participate in social service to show that women were leading in all spheres. Zila Parishad member Prem Lata Thakur, Principal, Government Senior Secondary School, Sultanpur, Poonam Sharma, social activists Mamta, Pratibha and Urmila Sood were present on the occasion. 

Una, July 13
The Rotary Club, Una, celebrated the installation ceremony of the new office-bearers here last night.

Gurjeet Singh Sekhon, governor of the Rotary District 3070, said the Rotary International (RI) would focus on literacy after working on polio eradication.

He said during the 109 years of the existence of the RI, garnering resources for the eradication of polio virus from the globe was its biggest achievement.

Nurpur, July 13
Aakriti Heer, a 20-year-old girl from Pathankot, has been selected for a woman eco-expedition challenge, wherein she, along with five other Indian girls, will scale Mount Elbrus, the highest peak in Russia in the European sub-continent.

The expedition is being organised by the Pandit Chandra Shekhar Azad Viklang Khel Academy Prosthetic Limb Centre Society, Lucknow.

If Aakriti succeeds, she will be the youngest girl in the country to undertake this adventure. According to information, the girls’ troupe will leave for the expedition on July 19 from Delhi and Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh will hand over the Indian flag to the troupe.

Arunima Sinha, the first woman amputee of the world to conquer Mount Everest, will lead the troupe.

Aakriti, daughter of Krishan Heer of Suliali near here is a BCA student at a private college in Pathankot and had successfully scaled the Gangotri peak at 16,000 feet in Uttarkashi in Uttarakhand, for which she was honoured by Bachendri Pal — the first Indian woman mountaineer who scaled the Mount Everest.

Pal is also leading this troupe for mountaineering at Mount Elbrus. Aakriti has done a mountaineering course from the Nehru Mountaineering Institute, Uttarkashi.

“I belong to a middle-class family. My father has taken loan for this purpose,” she said.

Chamba, July 13
The Himachal Pradesh Public Works Department (HP PWD) Class IV Employees Federation has urged the state government to the increase retirement age from 58 to 60 on the analogy of the Central government staff.

At a meeting of the association held here on Tuesday, under the chairmanship of its district president Devi Das Surya, it was demanded that Class IV employees who had been appointed after 2003 should be covered under the facility of pension benefits.

The association also demanded the enhancement of existing medical allowance to the employees.

Mandi, July 13
Rural Development and Panchayati Raj Minister Anil Sharma has said the state government has decided to allocate Rs 558 crore to zila parishads for for assets creation.

Talking to mediapersons here Friday, he said the fund allocation to zila parishads for development schemes was discontinued but now the state government had revived this funding.

He said the Rural Development Department had spent more money than the target fixed during the last financial year and Rs 282.3 lakh was spent against a target of Rs 273.13 lakh in Mandi district.

The minister said the state government was trying to bring the maximum funds from the Centre for rural development schemes.

Kangra, July 13
Guru Purnima was celebrated with religious fervour and enthusiasm here yesterday. Devotees paid tributes to their teachers who guided them in the field of spiritualism.

The local unit of Vivekananda Kendra, a spiritually oriented service mission, paid tributes to Ramakrishna Paramahamsa.

The speakers on the occasion laid stress on the life of Swami Ramakrishna as teacher and Swami Vivekananda as his disciple.

Various ashrams, including Brahmrishi Udasin Ashram and Ramni Dham in Jawalamukhi also celebrated Guru Purnima.