Shimla, July 31
The decision of the Executive Council of Himachal Pradesh University (HPU) to accept the recommendations of the Resource Mobilisation Committee to hike the fee today triggered protests with students coming on roads, holding rallies, demonstrations and taking out marches.

Activists of the NSUI protest the fee hike and RUSA at the PG College in Dharamsala on Thursday. Photo: Kamaljeet

The state committee of the Students Federation of India (SFI), which gave a call for protests to government colleges in the state and district headquarters and 43 other colleges, said HPU had become a hub of political parties and the university was ignoring the interests of students and taking anti-student decisions.

Members of the Students Central Association (SCA) of the HPU campus, who led the protest, said they were not afraid of cane charge and would continue to register their protest till the decision to hike fee was withdrawn.

Student leaders accused the university authorities of “dancing to the tune” of the state government which had reduced the university budget and was now increasing the fee, putting extra burden on the students, but these measures would not help in bringing the university out of financial crunch.

SCA secretary Piyush Sewal alleged that the university raised money by increasing the non-subsidised seats without strengthening the infrastructure and faculty. The non-subsidised seats in MCom and MCA had been increased from 45 to 120 and the fee charged by the university is Rs 1 lakh per annum for MBA, Rs 50,000 for microbiology, Rs 55,000 for BHM, MTA, Rs 30,000 for MSc chemistry and physics and Rs 25,000 per annum for MSc mathematics, he added.

SCA president Rajan Harta said since Vice-Chancellor ADN Bajpai joined the university, he had been trying to hike the fee and raised the cost of forms.

Members of the SCA also said due to delay in declaration of results, many students had not been able to take admission in the university and students of MSc physics, chemistry, maths and law had not been allotted hostels. The SCA also warned the council to roll back its decision or else face statewide agitation.

The ABVP also protested fee hike. Campus secretary of university College of Evening Studies Ankit Verma said the decision had come as a setback for the students. The NSUI also presented a memorandum against fee hike to the VC and demanded its withdrawal.

Classes boycotted

Kangra: Students affiliated with the Students Federation of India (SFI) today gathered at the MCM DAV College gate, boycotted classes and held a protest and took out a march through the main markets of the town against the Rashtriya Uchtar Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA), besides fee hike in the colleges.

The march was taken from the college to the bus stand via the college road, SBOP Chowk and Dharamsala and Zamanabad Roads before it culminated at the New Bus Stand.

The students raised slogans against Himachal Pradesh University (HPU) and the government for implementing RUSA which according to them was against the interests of students.

Akhil Choudary and Akshay Thakur, campus president and secretary, SFI, said RUSA had brought degradation in the education system and put students to hardships. They alleged that admissions to government colleges had been limited under RUSA, forcing a majority of the students to seek admissions in private colleges.

The protesters march resulted in a traffic jam on the Dharamsala Road and near the Zamanabad Road junction.

College teachers, the ABVP and the NSUI too were against the implementation of RUSA.

Dharamsala, July 31
The Union Ministry of Human Resource Development (HRD) has rejected the new site proposed by the state government for Central University Himachal Pradesh (CUHP) at Dharamsala.

Sources said a team of the Union Ministry visited Dharamsala recently to inspect the new site proposed for the CUHP, but rejected the government’s proposal. The ministry would be writing to the state to propose a new sight. The move might bring the state and the Union Ministry at loggerheads over the location of the university.

The CUHP was allotted to the state in 2010. The then BJP government had proposed two campuses of CUHP in Kangra district. It had allotted about 200 acre land for the campus at Dharamsala and 500 acre at Dehra. The entire land that was allotted for the project was forest land. Since, as per the Forest Department report there were about 1 lakh trees on the land, the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests did not grant permission for the project.

The location of the Central University became an election issue in the 2012 Assembly elections in the state. While the Congress leaders wanted the entire university campus to be shifted to Dharamsala, the BJP leaders wanted it at Dehra.

After the Congress government took over, it rejected the proposal of the BJP Government and sent a fresh proposal to the Union Government in which about 400 acre land was proposed for CUHP in the Indrunag area of Dharamsala.

The state government wanted a majority of the campus at Dharamsala. Sudhir Sharma, Minister for Housing and Urban Development, who now represents the Dharamsala Assembly constituency, was instrumental behind the said move of the Congress Government.

However, the government could not get the project cleared from the Union Ministry for Environment and Forests before the Lok Sabha polls. During the Parliamentary elections, BJP leaders from Hamirpur Parliamentary constituency, including Anurag Thakur, stated that in case BJP was voted to power in the state, the entire campus of CUHP would come up at Dehra.

After the NDA government took over, a fresh committee from the Union Ministry of HRD visited to inspect the site proposed by the present state government but rejected it. The sources here said the committee had also proposed that there should be a single campus of the Central University, instead of two proposed earlier.

Since it was the onus of the state government to give land for the CUHP campus, it might resist the rejection of the Dharamsala site. However, in this impasse, the prestigious project might get delayed further.

Presently, the CUHP is running from a temporary campus of Government College, Shahpur. The university administration is already facing a shortage of classrooms and other facilities and as a result, classes are being run in shifts.

The students are also facing hardships as there are no hostels. The university authorities have taken a few buildings on rent in Dharamsala and Kangra for the purpose. The authorities also maintained that they were facing problems in introducing new courses due to shortage of space.

The state government will have to amicably sort out the issue with the Union Ministry of HRD for the benefit of students and residents of Kangra.

Shimla, July 31
With 80 per cent of the state’s industry located in the Baddi-Barotiwala-Nalagarh (BBN) industrial estate, the government has decided to make it a Smart City with assistance from corporate houses having their units in Himachal.

Industries Minister Mukesh Agnihotri said the BBN industrial area would be developed into a Smart City by providing all facilities for excellent infrastructure. “We intend creating a helipad to provide good connectivity to the town and develop parks, rain shelters and proper roundabouts,” said Agnihotri.

He said BBN had 232 large and medium units and 949 small units with an investment of over Rs 1,200 crore. “We will rope in corporate houses and even smaller units to help in developing the city as a model industrial hub with all possible facilities and help the government maintain it,” he said. He said a Circuit House would be constructed in BBN for the convenience of those visiting the industrial area and the Circuit House at Nalagarh be given a facelift.

He said a Rs 33-crore sewerage scheme for Baddi and a Rs 18-crore scheme for Nalagarh had been prepared. “A trade centre is proposed to come up at BBN at a cost of Rs 10 crore so that the best facilities can be provided to entrepreneurs who make huge investments in Himachal,” the minister said.

Agnihotri also said the Swarghat-Bharatpur rail line would be laid at a cost of Rs 300 crore and a budgetary provision of Rs 4 crore had already been made for it. The Skill Development Centre at Baddi could be upgraded. He said the thrust was being laid on construction of a number of labour hostels so that workers get proper living conditions.

Shimla, July 31
The HP High Court today issued notices to the Medical Council of India (MCI), Union Secretaries (Health) and (Labour) and the state government on a petition challenging the action of the MCI whereby it had refused to give approval to start MBBS classes with 100 seats this session in the Employees State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) Medical College and Hospital, Ner Chowk, Mandi. The court further directed the authorities to file their replies by August 14.

The petitioner alleged that the MCI had denied the permission to open the medical college being established by the government and the ESI. It was further stated that in 2009, the government provided around 31 acres to the ESIC at a token lease of Rs 100 for 99 years for the ESI Hospital and Medical College at Ner Chowk in Mandi. This was a joint endeavour of the Centre and the state to start the ESI Hospital and Medical College and this would be a super-specialty 500-bed ESIC Medical College and Hospital and as per the information of the petitioner, the MBBS classes for 100 seats was to be started from 2010-11.

The petitioner further alleged that around Rs 750 crore had been spent to establish this institution.

The ESIC Medical College moved an application, seeking permission to establish a new college, to the MCI, for starting the MBBS classes from 2014 the last date for which is September 30.

After inspecting the college on June 13, executive committee of the MCI had declined the permission on the basis of deficiencies found in the college. But now all these deficiencies were removed to large extent.

The petitioner further alleged that the MCI had given conditional approval to other colleges. He urged the court to direct the MCI and other government authorities to grant conditional permission as had been granted to other institutions to start the MBBS classes with 100 seats or more seats with in this session of 2014.

Shimla, July 31
Transport Minister GS Bali in a press conference today said he had urged Minister for the Surface and Transport Nitin Gadkari and Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh to set up crash barriers along the narrow roads to prevent accidents which is few than those in Assam, Jammu and Kashmir, Uttarakhand.

Besides, Bali said the Central Road Research Institute, Pune, would do the road safety audit in Shimla, Mandi, Sirmaur and Chamba district. The corporation had increased the compositon fee for road safety from 25 per cent to 50 per cent and allotted road safety funds to the police, the district administration, the PWD to increase road safety awareness, he added.

He said he was sad over people being killed in accidents, but he put the blame on bad roads, brushing aside ‘khatara’ buses, human error, mechanical faults and poor plight of workshops.

He cited a letter written to Gadkari demanding the sanction of funds for the erection of crash barriers and yellow and white lines to caution commuters on the highways. “We have taken up the matter with Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh, who oversees the PWD to identify the black spots and erect the crash barriers,” he said.

Bali said the Kingal-Basantpur road at the Katarghat curve was narrow and fog made negotiating the curve difficult and the bus plunged into the gorge killing 21 peesons two days ago. The bus had travelled 3.63 lakh km and was 2011 model and a local person was driving it.

Bali cited a data from Assam, J and K, Uttarakhand to justify that the road accidents in Himachal was on a lower side. In Assam, 2,291 people were killed in road mishaps while the toll was 1,109 in Himachal, 1165 in Jand K and 840 in Uttarakhad in 2012, he added.

Shimla, July 31
Even as the clamour among MLAs for getting red beacon atop their vehicles restored is getting louder, the state Cabinet has turned down the proposal with senior bureaucrats and judicial officers also being clubbed on the list of those who would have been entitled amber beacon.

The MLAs who have requested Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh to allow beacon lights atop their vehicles have now decided to plead their case.

Legislators from all political parties have decided to take up the issue again with Virbhadra Singh at a function to be held in the state Assembly on August 4 in memory of first chief minister of the state Dr YS Parmar.

“We want that we should be allowed red beacons and not amber as the Chief Secretary and the Director General of Police have been allowed red beacons. If we are to be given amber beacons, both officers should also be allowed amber,” said Sanjay Rattan, Chairman of the Association of the First-Time Legislators whose number is 26.

He said the Congress, the BJP and independent MLAs were unanimous on this view and would ask the CM to allow them red beacons as other states had done.

“It is a question of dignity of the post we are holding and like Punjab, Haryana and Madhya Pradesh, Himachal should issue a notification allowing beacon lights atop their vehicles,” say the MLAs. There is also another viewpoint being expressed by officials that all officers who have a flag on their vehicles must also be allowed beacon or else the flag has no significance.

Official sources said a proposal had been prepared after examining the notifications issued by Punjab and Haryana. “The Cabinet did not give its nod as majority of the ministers as well as Chief Minister felt that if the use of amber beacon was allowed to even officials and district level judicial officers, then the spirit of the Supreme Court directives would be lost,” said an official.

As per the proposal, it had been decided that MPs, MLAs, senior officers getting super-time scale and judicial officers in the district be allowed beacon vehicles.

The proposal which was placed before the Cabinet had provision for allowing use of amber beacon for MLAs and MPs and also senior officers.

Shimla, July 31
A group of 28 Indians, including six from Himachal Pradesh, who were stranded in Iraq, returned home late last night. External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj was informed about the groups’ arrival by BJP MP Anurag Thakur.

All these people were rescued on July 25 by Indian Embassy officials and they were sent home after completing all formalities. — TNS

Dharamsala, July 31
Eleven persons were injured, two of them seriously, when a private bus (HP-388-3787) fell into a gorge near Terra Lines on the McLeodganj-Dharamsala road here today. The bus was going from McLeodganj to Dharamsala.

Sources said the bus driver lost control on a sharp curve and it skidded into a gorge. Fortunately, there was no causalty in the accident. Army personnel and local residents rescued passengers from the bus. The injured were shifted to the Dharamsala Zonal Hospital.

Kangra Deputy Commissioner Paul Rasu said due to the prompt action taken by Army personnel and residents, the injured were rescued in time.

Kangra, July 31
The Kangra sub-divisional authorities and the Municipal authorities swung into action today and removed illegal encroachments on the footpaths from the Tehsil Chowk to the Rajput Bhawan gate and warned the encroachers to desist from encroaching upon the footpath again.

Kangra Tehsildar Naresh Kumar leading the demolition team, removed encroachments on the footpath in front of nearly 30 shops. The drive was carried in front of the civil hospital and local municipal stadium. Naresh Kumar said the roads in the town had practically shrunken due to these illegal encroachments and the pedestrians were the worst suffers. He said different social organisations had also approached the authorities so that footpaths could be cleared and railings be set up.

He said the shopkeepers kept only 25% material in the shop and 75% on the footpath, leaving no path for the pedestrians to move. He said the footpaths would be cleared from Tehsil Chowk to the bus stand and from the bus stand to Fortis Hospital. The authorities have already cleared Mandir Bazar of the encroachments, he added.

The residents appreciated the move as it was in the larger interests of the locals, the pilgrims and tourists visiting the town. They however, added the authorities should not leave the programme midway as had been the practice of different administration succumbing under alleged political pressure.

Solan, July 31
Several hotels in the Kasauli have been found operating without mandatory registration from the Tourism Department.

Inquiries made by The Tribune revealed that several hotels had temporary connections, granted to them for constructions. Despite steep rise in the monthly power bills after the hotels became operational, the Electricity Department staff has been overlooking this.

Information under the RTI Act has revealed that some hotels on the Dharampur-Sanawar Road had not even sought an NOC from the Town and Country Planning Department and seven storeys had been constructed in violation of the norms where three plus one storey were permissible.

Such hotels had got themselves registered with the excise department and were paying tax, while they lacked the registration from the Tourism Department. Since there was no coordination between the tourism and the excise department, officials registered such hotels for VAT.

Arun Bhardwaj, District Tourism Development Officer, said a case pertaining to a hotel located on the Dharampur-Garkhal Road had come to their notice and the management had been served a notice to appear before him on August 7.

Though the Power Department is to ensure that a hotel possesses an NOC from the TCP Department, it has certification from the Fire Department, State Pollution Control Board, besides a registration certificate from the Tourism Department.

JS Rana, Executive Engineer, HP State Electricity Board Ltd, said the hotel had not sought permanent connection, but he would direct his staff to enquire if the hotel had become functional and a notice would then be issued if violations were detected.

KK Sharma, Joint Commissioner, Excise and Taxation Department, when asked as to how tax was being collected from a hotel which was not registered with the Tourism Department, said he would instruct the field staff to coordinate with the department so that the hotels could be brought to book.

Mandi, July 31
Many vacant seats in private engineering and polytechnic colleges after counselling being conducted by Himachal Pradesh Technical University (HPTU) have left the institutions worried.

After the counselling, even 2 per cent seats for B Tech courses have not been filled and a large number of seats are lying vacant in polytechnic colleges. But in government engineering and polytechnic colleges, a majority of seats have been filled.

As per information in a majority of engineering colleges, not even 10 to 15 seats each have been filled.

There are 7,680 seats available for B Tech, besides 2,960 B Tech courses seats in private universities.

In polytechnic colleges, 1,807 seats are available.

Worried over the poor response to engineering and other technical courses, managements of private technical institutions have been seeking relaxation in admission norms.

The state government has not conceded their demand and directed the institutions to admit students on the basis of Joint Entrance Test for B Tech course and PAT for admission in polytechnic institutions.

The private technical institutions have been pleading that since the All-India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) has allowed admission to students having 50 per cent marks in the qualifying exam throughout the country, the stringent admission norms in the state have put them at a disadvantage.

The institutions have been arguing that technical institutions in Punjab and Haryana are admitting students and many students from the state are rushing to these institutions.

However, the state government has been saying that maintaining the quality of education and ensuring the welfare of the students is important.

Shimla, July 31
A total of Rs 3,495.51 million was spent under the Local Area Development Fund (LADF) and the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Fund in project-affected villages (PAVs) till March 2013. But villagers got “nothing except compensation for their land acquired for 38 power projects surveyed in Sutlej basin”, reveals a recent study.

The first-ever Cumulative Environmental Impact Assessment (CEIA) study surveyed 228 PAVs within a 5-km radius from intake to powerhouse of 38 projects in the Sutlej basin.

The Directorate of Energy (DoE), Himachal Pradesh, had asked the Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education (ICFRE), Dehradun, to conduct the study. The report was submitted to the state government last month.

It recommended that the state should carry out a study to know the truth on LADA and CSR funds.

The 38 power projects have affected 703 villages, involving a population of 1.11 lakh people comprising 61,227 males and 51,495 females.

Significantly, in as many as 3,050 households surveyed in the 228 PAVs, power projects made “no positive contribution except that families got compensation for the land” acquired by the power companies, says the study.

The study analysed data on employment, per-capita income, energy consumption, contribution of CSR, LADA fund and infrastructure available.

According to it: “Hydropower development and investment has not contributed positively and positive cumulative impact of projects on social environment is low”.

JP Company claimed to have spent a sum of Rs 105.10 million on infrastructure development and on road connectivity. But the Baspa valley remains prone to landslides and has no hospital so far, the study found.

Similarly, Rs 115.91 million has been spent on various activities related to community development by the Karcham Wangtoo project as on March 31, 2013. But benefits proposed under LADF and CSR programmes, have not benefited PAVs as no documents were available to quantify the benefits, the study found.

The PAVs got peanuts as compensation was paid at an average price of Rs 697 per sq to the tune of Rs 4,637.51 million for the total area.

The Shong-thong Karchham project of the state-run HPCL paid the maximum of Rs 3,220 per sq m followed by Integrated Kasang and Karacham-Wangtoo projects.

On the other hand, the projects hit human health, damaged agricultural and horticultural crops due to dust during construction activities, damaged houses and drinking water sources due to blasting and tunnelling activities.

The shooting of a Punjabi song sequence in progress near a water body at Pubowal village in Una recently

Una, July 31
Ponds in various villages of Una district, which had run dry, courtesy public neglect, are gradually being nurtured and put to use by local residents.

The change in public mindset has been triggered by projects such as the Kandi Area Watershed Management Project and the Swan River Integrated Watershed Management Project, which were implemented in the district during the last decade.

One of the objectives of these projects was to educate people about the importance of rainwater harvesting and allow maximum percolation of water into the ground.

Palkwah village in the Beet area of Haroli block has one of the biggest water bodies, which was nurtured back by locals, a while ago. Panchayat Pardhan Sarita Devi said villagers undertook kar sewa and it took a few good monsoons to fill up this pond. During dry patches, the water is filled up by using a tubewell.

Fish fingerlings were introduced into the pond about a decade ago and after two years, fish worth Rs 5,000 were sold to contractors. The income increased each year and this year, the income to the panchayat from the sale of fish was Rs 14 lakh, she said, adding that next year the panchayat expected an income of Rs 25 lakh from the pond through sale of fish.

Sarita Devi said Rs 70 lakh had been sanctioned by the government for landscaping and developing a park on the periphery of the pond. “It has become a place to socialise as people from all age groups come to stroll here,” she said, adding even Punjabi song sequences were shot here regularly.

Dry ponds in Panjawar and Kangar have also been rejuvenated, while fishes have been introduced into the Dulehar pond. A walking track paved with interlocking tiles was also around the periphery of Kangar pond and the foundation stone of a tourist information-cum-conveniences centre was laid here recently, said Panchayat Pardhan Vinod Bittoo, adding the water body would add to the attraction of the tourist centre.

Industry Minister Mukesh Agnihori said the government had decided to rejuvenate dry and unused ponds, as it would not only add to the flora and fauna of these villages, but also recharge the ground water besides uplifting the economy of the local panchayats and the residents.

Paonta Sahib, July 31
Activists of various NGOs and social organisations, led by local MLA Kirnesh Jung, yesterday took out a protest march in the town to press for the opening of the Indian Institute of Management (IIM) in their constituency.

The demand for opening the IIM is now pouring in from various districts of the state ever since the Union Government announced it in the Union Budget.

Social bodies, including the Pensioners Association, Nagrik Kalyan Sabha, Retired Officers Association, RTI Activists Association, etc, lent support to this demand and nearly 250 people marched to the SDM office and handed him a memorandum.

Chamba, July 31
The Chamba District Progressive Council has urged Member of Parliament (MP) Shanta Kumar to take up with the Centre the issue of construction of a tunnel from Chamba to Chowari beneath the Jot hill ranges in the district.

In a representation to Shanta, council president Hari Ram Puri said with the construction of the Chamba-Chowari tunnel, the distance between the district and neighbouring states would be decreased by around 50 km.

“A bus journey takes 16 hours to reach the state capital. The journey is not only expensive, but also tiresome,” Puri said in the representation.

He urged the MP to zero in on this issue in the interest of the district people and take it up with the Union Government for getting funds so that the distance to parts of Himachal and neighbouring states could be reduced.

Kangra, July 31
For solving any management problem, the manager requires to ask a number of questions, build assumptions, identify issues, develop creative solutions and select the most appropriate alternative as the case method provides the decision maker necessary knowledge, skills and conceptions for taking decisions.

Prof Yoginder Singh Verma, Vice-Chancellor, Central University of Himachal Pradesh (CUHP), Shahpur, said this in his presidential address on the inaugural function of the three-day workshop on "Case Analysis and Case Preparation", which started here today.

Verma added that Central University of Himachal Pradesh had adopted a case method of teaching in its management and tourism programmes. The MoU with IIM-Ahmedabad for sharing of cases and development of faculty would go long way in developing management competencies among students, he said.

Prof Mukund R Dixit from IIM Ahmedabad, an expert in case method, is the key resource person of the workshop.

Professor Dixit, in his address, said the case method provided a unique tool to the instructor to impart requisite skills and knowledge.

He explained the methodology of workshop which would involve role play, participants' case discussion and case writing. Dr Sanjeev Gupta, Dean, School of Business and Management Studies, welcomed the guests, faculty members and research students.

The workshop is being attended by faculty members of the School of Business and Management Studies and the School of Tourism, Travel and Hospitality Management.

Among others Prof Hans Raj Sharma, Dean, students' welfare, Brig (retd) Jagdish Chand Rangra, Registrar, Dr RL Sharma, proctor, and Rabindranath Manukonda, Dean, School of Journalism, Mass Communication and New Media, were also present.

Una, July 31
Karnail Rana (38) of Kotla Kalan village, who was arrested recently by the Una police for submitting false documents to a bank for securing a car loan, had already secured five loans from various branches of the Kangra Central Cooperative Bank (KCCB) in Una district on forged documents.

Addressing the mediapersons today, SP Anupam Sharma said the accused admitted to have secured these loans, amounting to around Rs 40 lakh, on the basis of forged documents.

The forged documents used by Rana to secure bank loans

The SP said Karnail was settled in Austria, but owned a hotel on the Una-Hoshiarpur road in Una. The hotel reportedly was running into losses and he was unable to pay back the loan.

Consequently, Rana forged a number of voter identity cards and Aadhaar cards of different names and addresses and fixed his pictures on these. Similarly, documents of two fake guarantors from Jalandhar, who were paid Rs 1 lakh per loan by Karnail were also identified.

The SP said the accused admitted that the documents were forged in Austria where he used to go often to meet his family. He said the court had remanded the accused to police custody till August 2.

Nurpur, July 31
Vicky of Raja Ka Bagh was killed and Munish injured when the motorcycle (PB-35 H-7196) they were riding on was hit by a Maruti van (HP-38 C-7064) at Jagnolli near Fatehpur in Jawali subdivision here yesterday.

They were on the way to Dhameta when the van driver took a turn on the wrong side, leading to the collision of both vehicles. The bikers were rushed to the Community Health Centre at Fatehpur, from where they were referred to the Nurpur Civil Hospital where the pillion rider succumbed to his injuries. Munish had been shifted to a private hospital in Pathankot. Jawali DSP DC Verma said a case had been registered against van driver Jalam Deen who was arrested, but later let off on bail by the Fatehpur police.

Nurpur, July 31
The body of a missing person, identified as Vimal Kumar (30) of Rey under the Fatehpur police station in Jawali subdivision, was recovered from the Shah Nehar canal gate at Tatwali by the police here this evening.

The police said Vimal had left home on Tuesday and did not return. The body was first spotted by Kuldeep Kumar, an employee of the Shah Nehar irrigation project, this afternoon and he intimated the police about it.

Jawali DSP DC Verma, along with the Fatehpur SHO, rushed to the spot and recovered the body. The DSP said as per the statement of Vimal’s father, he was a bachelor and mentally depressed for the past some time.

The body had been sent to the mortuary at the Nurpur Civil Hospital and would be handed over to the family after a postmortem tomorrow. A case had been registered under Section 174 of the CrPC, he added.

Shimla, July 31
The HP High Court dismissed a bunch of petitions challenging the new policy framed by the state government for filing posts of the Block Resource Centre Coordinator (BRCC).

The petitioners challenged the policy on the ground that a lot of money had been spent on the training of BRCCs and that they should be permitted to discharge their duties till the project was over. They contended that the policy framed by the state on November 6, 2013, was detrimental to the aims and objectives sought to be achieved under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA).

The state had supported the policy by contending that the issue of quality in education was required to be addressed by the state by intending to send BRCCs back to classrooms to impart education to children.

There are more than 220 BRCCs, whose primary job is to teach children at schools. They have sufficient experience as BRCCs and the government intends to utilise this in classrooms.

BRCCs, who have already been appointed, can re-apply after a cooling-off period of three years. The fresh selection would give a chance to new incumbents to work on administrative-cum-managerial posts, it said.

It would give them exposure to different fields and they would get experience. This process was required to be changed to impart quality education at government schools and BRCCs being experienced teachers could definitely help the state in this direction, they had contended.

It further said their only job as BRCCs was to collect data, supervise infrastructure, facilitate teaching-learning process, disseminate information received from higher authorities, coordinate teachers’ training in their block, provide data of children to district-level authorities and bring it into the notice of higher authorities, discuss school-level problems at the block level and report it to higher authorities.

While dismissing the petitions, a division bench comprising Justice Rajiv Sharma and Justice Sureshwar Thakur observed: “We are in entire agreement with the focus of the state to shift back BRCCs to impart quality education at schools”.

However, the court made it clear that the tenure of teachers as BRCCs sent on secondment/deputation would not be less than three years to further achieve the aims and objectives of the SSA. It further directed the state to initiate process for filling the posts of BRCCs within eight weeks.

Kullu, July 31
Members of the panchayat, mahila and yuvak mandals of Neoli panchayat in the Kullu valley and Jari panchayat in the Manikaran valley, uprooted wild cannabi plants, during an anti-charas drive launched by the Kullu wing of the CID.

Chandra Thakur, in charge, CID Kullu, said the support from the masses was a welcome step to ensure curbing the charas menace in the valley. She said the CID would continue its anti-charas drive in the valley.

Sevati Devi, president, Neoli panchayat, Vidya Thakur, president, Jari panchayat, Bholaram, Babloo, Jai Singh, Kamla, Reshma, Naina Devi, Nisha Devi, Lata Thakur and various others were present during the drive.