Shimla, August 6
The monsoon session of the Assembly today began on a stormy note with the Opposition BJP staging a walkout while demanding resignation of Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh for the dismal performance of the Congress in the Lok Sabha poll.

The session commenced today with Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh expressing condolences on the demise of six former MLAs who had remained members of the House.

Leader of the Opposition PK Dhumal, ministers and MLAs both from the Treasury and Opposition benches joined in paying tributes which continued for almost hour and a half.

The moment the condolences got over, senior BJP legislator Suresh Bhardwaj sought the permission of the Speaker to raise the point of order which was denied. Ignoring pleas of the Speaker, Bhardwaj demanded the Chief Minister should resign on moral grounds as he had lost the mandate to continue in office in the wake of the dismal performance of the Congress. He said the Congress had lost out to the BJP in 59 of the 68 Assembly segments in the parliamentary polls.

The entire BJP legislature party was on its feet raising slogans demanding the Chief Minister’s resignation. Even as nothing could be heard in the din, Virbhadra continued with the listed business for the day and placed and read from some papers. The BJP legislators left the House raising slogans, demanding his resignation.

Talking to mediapersons later on, Virbhadra said there was no question of his resigning. “The question of my resigning does not arise as I will not submit to the BJP’s pressure or their demands,” he said. He challenged the BJP to bring in a no-confidence motion on the floor of the House if they had the majority rather than demanding his resignation.

“The walkout by the BJP on a momentous day when the Vidhan Sabha became the first Assembly in the country to become online is most shameful, petty and in bad taste,” he remarked. He did not hesitate to say that it had become the habit of the BJP to stage a walkout. He added that irrespective of the BJP’s walkout and disruptive tactics, the business listed for the monsoon session would be taken up.

“All this is being done at the behest of Dhumal as BJP MLAs have told me in private that they are keen to participate in the proceedings but under compulsion they have to stage a walkout,” he stated. He added this was Dhumal’s way of reacting to the Vigilance inquiries.

Earlier, Health Minister Kaul Singh Thakur lashed out at the BJP for staging a walkout and said they were not even aware of the democratic norms as the Lok Sabha polls are fought on national issues. “The people of Himachal have elected the Virbahdra regime for full five years and a walkout by them is uncalled for which we condemn,” he said. 

We staged a walkout today seeking resignation of the Chief Minister on moral grounds following humiliating defeat of the Congress in the Lok Sabha polls, but now we have got a bigger issue to force him to resign. PK Dhumal, BJP leader

Shimla, August 6
The submission made by the Additional Solicitor General (ASG) in the Delhi High Court today that “a prima facie case of money laundering has been made out against Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh” has come handy for the BJP which is likely to raise the issue in the Vidhan Sabha tomorrow.

“We staged a walkout today seeking resignation of the Chief Minister on moral grounds following humiliating defeat of the Congress in the Lok Sabha polls, but now we have got a bigger issue to force him to resign,” said a senior BJP leader.

The BJP has been pressing for expeditious investigations into the allegations, but the CBI and the Income Tax Department were rather slow and even taking note of the tardy pace of investigations, the high court also turned down the plea for six-week time for filing the final report and allowed only one week, indicating that the matter would soon reach its logical end, he added.

PK Dhumal also indicated that the party would raise the issue in the House tomorrow and said the party would meet in the morning to fine tune the strategy in the light of this latest development.

Another senior BJP legislator said today’s development had raised the hopes that the cases would be decided soon and said Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had earlier said it was an “open and shut” case and they hoped that it would not linger on further.

Even during the election campaign, the common argument of BJP leaders was that the cases against Virbhadra would be expedited after the formation of the Modi government and the Virbhadra government in the state would go and the state BJP executive at its meeting from July 25 to 27 last had also passed a resolution in this regard.

Shimla, August 6
Chairman, State Pollution Control Board, Kuldeep Singh Pathania, Chairman, State Agriculture Marketing Board, Dr Subhash Manglate, Chairman, HP Buildings and Other Construction Workers Welfare Board, Bawa Hardeep Singh, Chairman, HIMFED, Ajay Bahadur and Vice-Chairman, State Housing Board, Yashwant Chhajta, have condemned the demand of BJP leaders regarding resignation of Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh raised in the Vidhan Sabha today, terming it ridiculous.

In a joint press statement issued here, they said it was the one-point programme of BJP leaders to target Virbhadra Singh as they were well aware of the fact that he was the most popular and mass leader of the state. They said it seemed that BJP leaders had not been able to digest the defeat they suffered during the Vidhan Sabha elections. But they should remember that the party had been given mandate for five-year term by the people, they added.

They said Dhumal had been targeting Virbhadra Singh out of political vendetta. He was dreaming of coming back to power, but his attempts to destabilise the government would never materialise.

The government was stable and strong like a rock and would complete its full term. Besides four independent MLAs, all 36 Congress MLAs were solidly behind the Chief Minister.

They said the Congress government had initiated people-oriented policies to benefit all sections of society and it would continue to do so. He said the Dhumal government had indulged in financial mismanagement and the present government was striving hard to bring back the state on financial track. 

“Dhumal and his family have a single agenda of attacking me as they find me to be the biggest obstacle in their political ambition of usurping power in the state,” he remarked. “Dhumal is now pressurising the Union Government to destabilise the democratically elected Congress government in Himachal Pradesh on the basis of false cases made against me,” he said. He said the people of the state had always reposed faith in his integrity and leadership.

Dhumal hails ASG’s submission

Former Chief Minister and Leader of the Opposition PK Dhumal hailed the submission made by Additional Solicitor General (ASG) in Delhi High Court that a prima facie case of money laundering was made out against Virbhadra Singh. He said investigations had been on for quite some time but the pace of investigation was slow.

He rubbished the charges that BJP leaders were framing him and pointed out that all developments took place under the UPA government and the case was being monitored by the Delhi High Court.

“The issue of revised Income Tax returns and surfacing of controversial VBS files and subsequent preliminary inquiry took place under the UPA government and now when the court has taken a serious view of the delay, Singh is accusing the BJP,” he said.

He said all accused always plead not guilty and the ongoing investigations would bring out the truth. “We have been demanding his resignation on moral grounds for quite some time and even raised the demand during the budget session, but now he may be forced to resign for other reasons, he added.

CM should come clean: CPM, HLP

The CPM and the Himachal Lokhit Party (HLP) said Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh should come clean in connection with alleged case of money laundering. They said nothing mattered more than the verdict of the court, regardless of what political parties demanded.

Kullu legislator and HLP leader Maheshwar Singh said, “It is a legal matter pending in the Delhi high court. The verdict of the court is more important than what the government or the BJP, the Congress or other parties say on the legal matter”. He refused to comment further.

“All public figures should come clean once fingers have been raised against them whether it is Virbhadra Singh or other. But there should be no politicking, no misuse of institutions and office to settle political score”, said Rakesh Singha, state secretary, CPM. He added that the Union government should not misuse its office and institutions to settle scores.

Shimla, August 6
Even as the Assembly today exempted Congress MLA from Doon Ram Kumar from attending the 16-day monsoon session, the BJP made it clear that they would raise it in the House tomorrow as this was wrong.

It was after the BJP had staged a walkout that Speaker Brij Bihari Lal Butail informed the House that a request had been received from Ram Kumar, who is facing a trial in the Jyoti murder case, to exempt him from attending the session.

He said Kumar had made this plea as he had not been granted the permission by the court to attend the Assembly session.

He granted the permission to Ram Kumar with the consent of the House in the absence of the BJP.

Former Chief Minister PK Dhumal later said it was wrong to take up Ram Kumar’s plea when it had not been listed in the business for the day. “Had we been present, we would have opposed it and tomorrow we will raise this matter in the House,” he said. He regretted that despite the BJP legislators meeting the Speaker twice, they were not informed about Kumar’s plea.

Ram Kumar, who won the Assembly election from the Doon Assembly segment in Solan district, is facing a trail in the murder of a young girl Jyoti and has been lodged in jail since his election. It was mandatory for him to seek exemption or else he faced the threat of losing his Assembly membership. 

Shimla, August 6
The Congress government has given extension and re-employment to 60 officers and employees in various departments, secretariat, boards, corporations and university since the formation of the government in the state on December 25, 2012, till August 15, 2013, said Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh in a written reply to the query raised by BJP MLAs from Dehra Ravinder Singh, Dharampur’s Mahendra Singh and Una’s Satpal Singh Satti during question hour here today.

Out of the 60 beneficiaries, 28 were re-employed, while 32 were given extension and 26 of them were from the Himachal Pradesh State Electricity Board and Himachal Pradesh Power Corporation Limited.

Dharamsala, August 6
The state government is planning to attract investments through roadshows in various parts of the country. However, investment proposals worth thousands of crores are pending with the Revenue Department for want of permission under Section 118 of the Land Tenancy Act.

The problem was introduced by the department in October 2013.

Earlier, the industrial plots were exempt from permissions under Section 118. However, highly placed sources told The Tribune that the Secretary, Revenue, in October 2013 observed that permission under Section 118 was mandatory for selling even industrial plots.

Since then sale of 110 industrial plots across the state where major investment was to come in has been stalled. The investment proposal has been stalled as the department is yet not given permission under Section 118 for the sale of such plots.

The Industries Department has been writing to the Revenue Department for early permission for sale of industrial plots.

Minister for Industries Mukesh Agnihotri admitted that the industrial proposals worth thousands of crores had been struck due to a condition put by the Revenue Department for seeking permission under Section 118 for sale of industrial plots. He said the matter was being expedited as the government was committed to giving all kinds of clearances to investment coming in the state.

Sources said rules had earlier been framed for exempting any kind of colonies or flats being brought by the Himachal Pradesh Urban Development Authority (HIMUDA) for Section 118. However, no such rules were in place for sale of industrial plots. Still no objection was being raised for sale of plots in the planned industrial areas by the Industries Department with permission under Section 118 till October last year. Now that the matter has been raised, the department is in a fix and dependent on the Revenue Department’s permission under Section 118 for sale of its industrial plots.

Sources said earlier the Congress government was thinking of exempting the sale of plots in the planned industrial areas from Section 118. However, the move has evoked strong reaction from the BJP. The BJP that was under fire from the Congress before the last Assembly elections for selling state lands to outsiders is now levelling similar allegations against the government.

Under pressure from the BJP, the Congress government has gone apprehensive over exempting the sale of industrial plots from permissions under Section 118.

However, the new bottleneck added for anyone wanting to buy industrial plots and invest in Himachal might hit the state campaign to attract investment in the state.

Already the state has a few planned industrial areas. At other places, industrialists have to buy land from private owners who generally fall pray to local property dealers and land mafia. The land mafia buy small chunks of land in the areas where major investment was proposed and then create bottlenecks in execution of projects.

Shimla, August 6
Former Chief Minister PK Dhumal today said there was no question of the BJP bringing in a no-confidence motion as it was the people of the state who had given the biggest verdict against the Congress in the Lok Sabha polls.

“I fail to understand what kind of verdict is Virbhadra Singh wanting as the results of the parliamentary elections indicate that people have lost faith in him and his government,” he said. The Congress had faced the worst-ever defeat in the history of electoral politics in Himachal.

Reacting to Virbhadra’s accusation that it was Dhumal who was compelling BJP legislators to stage a walkout against their wish, the former chief minister said there were several Congress MLAs who were in touch with him and asking him to get them respite by throwing Virbhadra out of power.

He said the Congress regime was acting with political vendetta and targeting its political opponents. “The entire energy of the government is focused on implicating its opponents in false cases while the drug and mining mafia is blatantly violating all norms,” he said.

He said the Congress which had accused the BJP of putting HP on sale had failed to prove even one case of wrong land sale. “On the contrary, the Congress has put Himachal on sale as Section 118 is being diluted to benefit select people,” he said.

Shimla, August 6
A delegation of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), led by national secretary Ashish Chauhan, today met Himachal Pradesh Governor Urmila Singh and apprised her that the implementation of the Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA) was done in haste by the state without considering teachers and students’ views.

The delegation requested the governor to rollback the semester system in which 50 marks are given for internal assignments “in the interest of students who will also face problems in migration from one college to another”.

Chauhan said RUSA was attached to the choice based credit system (CBCS) and semester system to increase the gross enrolment ratio, but the reality was that after the implementation of RUSA, the number of students had reduced.

“The teacher-student ratio of 1:30 has not been implemented in the state at some colleges, where the ratio was still 1:100 and about 1,500 posts of teachers are lying vacant in the state,” he said. He said: “Students are not able to select major and minor subjects of their choice in the new system and therefore are moving out of the state or getting admissions at private institutes.”

“Not only this, about 14 colleges in the state are situated at places where educational institutes are closed due to snowfall from December to February and in such circumstances, how will these colleges complete 90 classes in a semester,” he said.

Shimla, August 6
A large number of fish was electrocuted in the trout-rich Pahnala stream, a tributary of the Beas in Kullu valley, yesterday. But poachers managed to flee from the spot.

However, the wires used for the mass killing were recovered in a joint late-night raid conducted by the Fisheries and Trout Conservation and Angling Association (TCAA), Kullu. What came as a shock was that poachers have been using electric wires to electrocute fish in the trout-rich streams and the Beas, thereby endangering life of nearby villagers.

A few residents said poachers sell it to hoteliers and restaurant owners in the Kullu-Manali belt. But neither the Electricity Board nor the Fisheries have arrested poachers before.

It was a clue given by villagers to the members of the TCAA after which a joint raid was conducted last night in the Pahanala stream.

Krishan Sandhu, general secretary, TCAA, said: “We conducted a raid with the team of the Fisheries Department and the electricity board staff last evening in the Pahnala stream and caught two offenders red-handed.”

“They killed the fish by using electric current which they arranged from an electric pole installed near the stream,” he added.

“Poachers fled leaving the fish behind along with a bundle of electric wire they used for electrocution,” said Fisheries field staff.

The TCAA demanded that the Electricity Board should be more vigilant to check poaching in the tributaries, including Pah Nala, Tirthan and the Beas.

“Not only this, fish is killed by adding bleaching powder or dynamite under the cover of darkness,” said TCAA members.

“It is punishable under the HP Fisheries Act, 1976, which provides for punishment up to three years’ imprisonment or Rs 5,000 fine, but not even a single poacher has been arrested so far,” said Ranjiv Bharti, president of Friends of Tirthan.

Director, Fisheries, Gurbachan Singh said the department was trying to nab poachers and the TCAA. “We have authorised the TCAA as honorary fisheries officer and more raids will be conducted,” he added. 

Shimla, August 6
The electrocution of a large number of fish in Pahnala, a tributary of the Beas in Kullu, has exposed an acute shortage of fish guards and fisheries officers to protect marine life in the state, which faces a twin threat from poachers as well as power projects.

The plight of fish is understandable as poachers get a free run in trout-rich waters covering Tirthan, Pahanala, Jhibhi, Parbati, all feeding the Beas in Kullu, Uhal in Mandi, Pabbar in Rohroo in Shimla and Bandal belt of Bharmour in Chamba.

Poachers are having a field day as state Fisheries Department has no field staff to safeguard these. As many as 143 posts are lying vacant out of the sanctioned strength of 385 posts in the Directorate of Fisheries.

Out of these, as many as 42 posts of field assistant, 18 posts of fisherman, 16 posts of fisheries officer and four posts of sub-inspector are laying vacant, sources said.

Krishan Sandhu, general secretary of the Trout Conservation and Angling Association (TCAA), Kullu, said: “The fish are at the mercy of gods as these face twin onslaught of poachers and as well as large number of power projects coming up in the river basins and tributaries.”

“The department needs fish guards and the government should protect fish-rich rivers for conservation and disallow power projects from coming up on such rivers,” demanded TCAA members.

“The propagation and breeding of fish in rivers remain poor and fish farmers are facing shortage of fish seed as the fish farm at Hamni is yet to start in the Tirthan river,” said Raju Bharti, a fish farmer from Tirthan.

Private fish farmers are catching up in the state as nearly 430 entrepreneurs have set up their fish farms so far. The Fisheries Department is focusing on reservoir fishing in the state.

Director, Fisheries, Dr Gurcharan Singh said: “The department is facing staff shortage, but it has delegated panchayats and 14 members of TCAA to conserve and check poaching. Mahseer breeding farm at Jogindernagar is running and Hamni fish farm in Kullu will be started by constructing a weir there.”

Palampur, August 6
Hundreds of petty fish vendors, who eke out a living by selling fried fish at wayside shops, have urged the state government to allow them to import fish during off-season, when there is a complete ban on fishing in state rivers and reservoirs.

Fishing at water bodies, including rivers and reservoirs, is banned for uninterrupted breeding from June 1 to July 31. Under the HP Fisheries Act, 1976, fishing and exposing fish for sale at shops is also banned during this time.

The state government gives some non-fishing allowance during the “close season” to register fishermen or cooperative societies operating in two major reservoirs of the state — Gobind Sagar and Pong reservoir. But no provision has been made for petty vendors, who are semi-skilled and more or less illiterate.

In case a vendor wants to import fish, which does not grow in state waters from Chandigarh or Pathankot markets, he has to follow a lengthy proceedure.

Director, Fisheries, Himachal, has issued a pro forma, which is to be filled by a fisherman to apply for the import permit to him through the District Fisheries Officer concerned stating the names of different fish varieties, quantity and names of suppliers.

For this a poor fish vendor has to run from pillar-to-post to get the pro forma and later wait for the officer to forward it to the Director with whom the powers are centralised.

Despite the fact that the state government policy is to decentralise powers for extending time-bound services to people, it seems that the Director of Fisheries either is not aware of this or has no trust in his district officers.

Fish vendors have hence demanded that the procedure be simplified and they be allowed to import fish, which does not grow in Himachal waters, from outside during the “close season” so that they could earn a livelihood or else they be registered and given “close-season” subsistence allowance.

Shimla, August 6
Taking notice of the misleading data and other glaring deficiencies in the Detailed Project Report (DPR) for the Shimla Water Supply Scheme from the Kol Dam reservoir near Sunni, the Union Ministry of Urban Development has asked the state government to submit a revised report.

Expressing its dissatisfaction over the report, which lacks detailed planning and investigation, the Union Government had asked the state to engage a consultant for developing the comprehensive and self-contained DPR, matching the requirements of the manual of water supply and treatment, service level benchmarks and other guidelines as per the norms.

The project cost which had been reduced from Rs 515.89 crore to Rs 395.36 crore could be further reduced as no duplicate treatment or engineering units and pipelines were required with the present day technology, the ministry opined.

It also pointed out that land requirement had been changed and certified only by an executive engineer and no senior officer had attested the certificate. Moreover, there was no clearance from land and revenue departments regarding identified land.

The allocation of the water certificate has also been furnished by the executive engineer who is preparing the compliance to the observations as single party. The question is whether the executive engineer is a competent authority to allocate water resources.

Referring to the misleading data, the ministry stated that the data pertained to the Luhri Dam to be set up near Neerath, located far away from Kol Dam and questioned the rational of building the de-silting tank. Taking the letter seriously, the state government had appointed the consultant and started the process of revising the report.

The ministry had advised the government to settle for option to bring water to Shimla from Kol Dam, which is economical as compared to the Pabbar Gravity Water Supply Scheme which was nearly 200 per cent more expensive that the Kol Dam project.

Earlier, the state government had proposed two water supply schemes for Shimla, but the Pabbar scheme costing about Rs 1,182 crore was supported by Irrigation and Public Health Minister Vidya Stokes. However, after lot of discussions, the Chief Minister finally gave the nod to the Kol Dam scheme.

Una, August 6
Under the One-Child, One-Tree programme of the National Legal Services Authority, District and Sessions Judge CL Kochar launched a week-long district-level plantation campaign at the Lamlehri Government High School, 10 km from here, today.

Speaking on the occasion, Kochar said every student from Classes VI to XII would plant a sapling near his place of stay and protect it. He said the campaign was being held from August 6 to 13 in different schools of the district.

Divisional Forest Officer RK Dogra said the Forest Department had provided 41,000 saplings to school students as part of the programme. While the district Forest Division was providing saplings to 152 government and 65 private schools in the district, the Swan River Integrated Watershed Management Project of the Forest Department was implementing the same programme in 85 schools of the district, he added.

Children were educated on the importance of planting and protecting trees and the ecology. Additional District and Sessions Judge Mukesh Bansal, Chief Juidicial Magistrate Parveen Chauhan, Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate Rajesh Chauhan, Judicial Magistrate Gaurav Chauhan, Elementary Education Deputy Director Nirmala Rani and school Headmaster Devender Chauhan were also present on the occasion.

Shimla, August 6
CPM members accused the state government of squeezing the public distribution system (PDS) in the state, as it covered just half the population under the ration system under the Food Security Act.

CPM leaders threatened to launch an agitation to restore the universal system covering the entire population at its state-level convention inaugurated by Swati Narayan, a pioneer in Right to Food Campaign here today.

The draft of the convention was placed by Rakesh Singha, CPM secretary.

They said the state government must ensure that there was universal PDS covering the entire population.

“The reduction in quantity and price subsidy will be opposed and party will mobilise people on this,” the party warned.

Kuldip Singh Tanwar and other leaders from the districts raised similar issues related to farmers and failure of the BJP and Congress governments to solve the problems being faced by farmers.

The members decided to launch a state-wide agitation in which district and block-level conventions would be held.

The party would launch a massive stir at the state capital here in which party workers would participate.

CPM said the National Food Security Act had increased insecurity among people instead of enhancing and strengthening the ration system in the state.

“This not only poses a threat to the existing ration system in the state which covers the entire state, but will also snatch the basic right to food from Himachalis,” party leaders claimed.

They said only 50% households in rural Himachal and 33% in urban centres have been covered under the Act, which shows that half of population had been excluded under the new PDS.

Party leaders condemned the linkages of subsidy to Rs 20 on pulses and Rs 10 on oil, which meant people would be forced to buy at the market rates, putting a question mark on the entire distribution system.

“Similarly the stagnation of subsidy on sugar at Rs 18.50 per kg will reduce the subsidy,” the party stated.

The leaders criticised reduction in the quantity of rice from 9 kg to 6 kg and of wheat flour from 19 kg to 13kg.

Solan, August 6
The efforts of Dharampur forest range officials have yielded positive results, as they have not only been successful in completely removing lantana weed from the area falling under Solan division, but have conserved water as well.

The weed had destroyed the green cover in the area and it was hindering the growth of other plant species. Owing to its fast-growing tendency, the hillock was slowly transforming into a barren stretch of land. Hence, conserving moisture on the hill to ensure growth of other plant species was the need of the hour.

With no availability of water conservation mechanism in the area, rain water caused erosion, thereby draining away a sizeable part of the arable soil along the hillock. This posed an added challenge for the forest staff and they took the help of locally available brushwood and pine needles to create barriers, which besides slowing down the flow of water from the top of the hill helped in reducing soil erosion.

Concrete structures were also built by the field staff of the Forest Department at places where the flow of water was immense.

A visit to the site reveals how the forest staff have been able to collect a huge quantity of water flowing downhill in a dam without eroding the soil.

“Since fish seed have been introduced in the dam, it will help provide edible fish for commercial purposes and will soon become a source of livelihood for people,” said Range Officer Ravinder Gandhi.

A stretch of 89 hectare land spread across various villages, including Bhere-ka-Kech, Sihardi and Anji, which lie in the catchment area of the dam is now a witness to the “green revolution” after the complete eradication of lantana.

Adopting a top-to-bottom approach, while clearing the hillock of lantana, the forest staff have set an example of perseverance under the leadership of the range officer. Reckoning this zeal to ameliorate people affected by lantana, he was awarded by Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh recently at the state-level van mahotsav.

Gandhi, while talking about the success of his project, said: “Since lantana had rendered the vast stretch of land barren and had reduced fodder availability, the revival of the area now has made available adequate amount of fodder for livestock.”

Officials of the Forest Department said: “We will replicate this model in the other areas as well to rid people of this noxious weed.” 

Una, August 6
A high-tech emergency unit, set up at the district hospital at a cost of Rs 75 lakh, will soon be made functional after the installation of a digital X-ray machinery.

This was stated by Deputy Commissioner (DC) Abhishek Jain. Presiding over a meeting of the Governing Board of the Rogi Kalyan Samiti today, he said this facility would provide better emergency services to patients.

The improvements done in the district hospital during the past year and the proposed works to be undertaken during the current year at a cost of about Rs 3 crore were also discussed at the meeting.

The DC said an Elisa reader machine for blood tests, a colour dopler machine in the Department of Radiology, a CT scan machine under the public-private partnership mode and a Phaco machine for sutureless eye surgeries were procured during the past year and made functional.

The delegates expressed the need to strengthen the Jan Aushadhi store, which had been opened in the hospital complex, to provide generic medicines at cheaper rates to patients. The members also expressed concern over the poor state of affairs at the cardiac care unit, which was set up a few years ago at a cost of Rs 30 lakh.

The upgradation of the juice bar at the hospital to a canteen was also proposed.

Chief Medical Officer (CMO) GR Kaushal said this year, 1.02 lakh patients had reported in the Out Patient Department, while 33,533 patients were given indoor treatment. The Governing Board decided to marginally enhance the user charges for blood tests to meet the expenses of reagents and other consumables used in these tests. The CMO said due care had been taken to ensure that the charges were less than the prevailing market rates.

District Health Officer TC Mahant said diagnostic tests and medicines to pregnant women and children below the age of one year were free, adding that every Thursday, there was a special geriatric day for senior citizens, where free diagnostic tests and medicines were provided to patients.

Senior Medical Officer Ashok Daroch and other official and non-official members of the board were also present.

Shimla, August 6
Prof Rajinder Singh Chauhan, Pro Vice-Chancellor of Himachal Pradesh University (HPU), presided over the 43rd annual general meeting of the Himachal Pradesh University Sports and Co-curricular Activities Council (HPUS & CAC) here yesterday. “Life is a game and one must play with spirit and rules,” he said.

Dr KK Vaidya, president of the HPUS & CAC, presented an annual report of the council and highlighted the problems being faced by colleges and institutions affiliated to the university.

Awards for the Inter-College Youth Festival were also given on the occasion.

Government College, Una, bagged the overall championship trophy under the men’s section and Rajkiya Kanya Maha Vidyalaya (RKMV), Shimla, bagged the trophy under the women’s section. The PG Centre of the HPU bagged the overall championship trophy.

In the men’s section, Government College, Solan, bagged a trophy in table tennis and Government College, Una, in athletics. In the women’s section, Government College, Dharamsala, was awarded for best performance in the hockey match and Government College, Una, in badminton and handball.

Nurpur, August 6
Patwaris of the Revenue Departments from Nurpur and Indora tehsils held a protest demonstration and a gate meeting in support of their demands here on Monday.

Led by Parshotam Sharma and Vijay Kumar, presidents of the Patwaris and Kanungos Associations, respectively, of Nurpur and Indora units, they protested the annulling of the posts of land reform patwari, kanungo, assistant office kanungo and subdivisional kanungos at subdivisional headquarters across the state. They also handed over the keys of patwar circle offices where the posts of patwari had been lying vacant for long. The department had given additional office charge to other patwaris to the local tehsildar.

They announced that they would start a protest demonstration by wearing black badges and resorting to work to rule while discharging their duties till August 15. They would intensify their stir if the state government didn’t accept their demands, he added.

Meanwhile, patwaris and kanungos associations have been holding a protest demonstration against 155 vacant posts of kanungo and 544 of patwari across the state. — OC

Palampur, August 6
A large number of women from the Sansal area of Baijnath subdivision gheroed the office of Puneet Raghu, DSP, Baijnath, on Monday evening.

They were protesting the failure of the police in arresting the culprits who had injured and beaten a village youth on July 31.

Talking to mediapersons, they said Parveen Kumar was returning home at night. When he reached near the village, four youths beat him and ran away from the spot. Parveen lodged a complaint at the Baijnath police station against the culprits the next morning.

However, the police, instead of registering a case against the accused, forced the victim to make a compromise and compound the case.

The women also alleged that the culprits threatened the villagers of dire consequences if they complained to the police.

The DSP said all the four accused had been identified and would be arrested soon. 

Shimla, August 6
Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh released a Public Distribution System (PDS) manual brought out by the Department of Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs here today.

Virbhadra said the manual would be informative and people’s grievances regarding the PDS would now be addressed in the shortest possible time as all information of the fair price shops in the state, with coding and fair price shop identity number, had been given in the manual. Besides, the contact details of the PDS stakeholders had been given which would reduce the redressal time of people’s grievances, he added.

Virbhadra said the manual provided detailed information on various processes followed in the department, contact details of all officials of the department as well as the HP Civil Supplies Corporation.

Food, Civil Supplies, Consumer Affairs and Transport Minister GS Bali said the manual would bring about transparency and reduce bad practices in the PDS.

Shimla, August 6
Governor Urmila Singh’s birthday today assumed political overtones as Congress leaders made a beeline to the Raj Bhawan to wish her on her birthday, but in two separate groups.

With the Chief Minister, ministers and MLAs remaining busy in the Assembly today, it was at about 4.30 pm that Urmila Singh’s birthday assumed political overtones as Congress leaders turned up to wish her not just in overwhelming large numbers, but also separately, giving rise to political speculation.

It was at about 4.30 pm that 10 ministers and legislators drove together to the Raj Bhawan to wish the Governor. Those who drove together included ministers Assembly Speaker BBL Butail, ministers Kaul Singh, Dhani Ram Shandil, Chief Parliamentary Secretaries (CPS) Rohit Thakur, Mansa Ram and Rajesh Dharmani and MLAs Kuldeep Kumar, Asha Kumari, Rakesh Kalia and Ravi Thakur.

These leaders were later joined by Horticulture Minister Vidya Stokes and Transport Minister GS Bali and state Congress president Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu who came together.

Later in the evening Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh also arrived at the Raj Bhawan accompanied by his loyalists. Those who accompanied him included ministers SS Pathania, Mukesh Agnihotri, Thakur Singh Bharmouri, Sudhir Sharma, Prakash Chaudhary and CPS Inder Dutt Lakhanpal and Nand Lal and MLAs Sanjay Rattan, Bambar Thakur and Karnesh Jung. Some former MLAs, including Harsh Mahajan and Kuldeep Pathania, also accompanied him.

Shimla, August 6
Governor Urmila Singh today celebrated her 68th birthday with 162 children of Sarvoday Ashram, Shimla, and Deaf and Dumb School, Dhalli. They children were given woollens and a lunch was hosted for them. They also went around the historic Raj Bhawan building.

Vice-president Hamid Ansari, Governors, Union ministers, leaders of various political parties greeted her on the phone and through letters.

Virbhadra Singh, Chief Minister, also wished the Governor on her birthday. Prem Kumar Dhumal, Leader of the Opposition, also greeted her.

Former Governor of Nagaland Ashwini Kumar, Speaker, H P Vidhan Sabha, BBL Butail, cabinet ministers Vidya Stokes, Kaul Singh Thakur, GS Bali and Dr (Col.) Dhaniram Shandil, state Congress president, Sukhwinder Singh Thakur, vice-chairman, National Commission for Scheduled Tribes, Ravi Thakur, Chairman, State Finance Commission, Kuldeep Kumar and others congratulated here her. She cut a cake and thanked all guests.

Kangra, August 6
In a hit-and-run case, a 70-year-old man was killed at Tharu village near Nagrota Bagwan here today, the police said here.

The police said Trit village resident Udho Ram was killed this evening. He was rushed to the DRPGMC, Tanda, where doctors declared him brought dead.

The police said he was hit by some unknown vehicle near the Peer Baba shrine on the Pathankot-Mandi national highway. — OC