Shimla, August 24
Proper implementation of road-safety norms and strict vigil by the police could have saved the 110-year-old bailey bridge at Sadhupul. Locals said overloaded trucks started plying on the road ever since the apple season commenced this year.

The bridge constructed during the British era by a Calcutta-based Joseph and Company in 1904 for the Maharaja of Patiala had a carrying capacity of 1 tonne initially for small vehicles owned by the Maharaja.

Vijay Sharma, a senior citizen residing in Chail, said: “Road-safety norms were imposed so strictly at that time that all heavy machinery, including road rollers, were dismantled before crossing the bridge and then re-assembled on the other end. But with the passage of time safety norms were thrown to the winds with impunity and the collapse of the bridge is a consequence of this callous attitude.”

Namish, another Sadhupul resident, who runs a small business here, said: “Since it is the shortest route with less traffic, overloaded trucks carrying apple boxes ply on this road during the apple season.”

Naresh Sharma, engineer-in-chief, Public Works Department (PWD), said: “The bridge was passed for 9-tonne load capacity and we had erected signboards on both sides of the bridge. Small buses ply on the road and regular inspection is conducted by officials of the department.”

He said: “Ideally, vehicles with less than 9 tonne weight should ply on the bridge, but despite warning, the truck weighing 25 tonne flouted the norm which resulted in the mishap.”

Truckers started plying the route after the Kufri-Chail road was widened and upgraded. He said heavy vehicles especially overloaded trucks should be allowed to ply only on specified roads and strict norms should be imposed to avoid a recurrence of such incidents in future.

Area residents said bigger signboards with warnings should be displayed at Kufri and at Kandaghat as well to warn truckers. Not only this, a penalty should be imposed on offenders, they added.

Interestingly, Sadhupul attracts a lot of tourists, but without it the footfall will definitely reduce.

The BJP government had planned to construct a lake at Sadhupul and its foundation stone was also laid by former Chief Minister PK Dhumal in 1999, but later the project was abandoned due to objections from environmentalists.

Chamba, August 24
Himachal Transport Minister GS Bali has written a letter to the Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways to raise crash barriers on black spots alongside roads above an altitude of 4,000 feet.

Addressing mediapersons here last evening, he said: “To improve the geometry of road constructions, the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) has been entrusted the work to conduct the road audit to carry out a survey.”

“To assist the road-audit survey, a committee has been constituted which will have regional transport officers as its members,” he said.

After getting the report from the CSIR, necessary road-safety measures would be taken to improve the condition of roads, Bali said. He impressed upon officials to construct roads under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana as per the specifications without any laxity.

Bali said: “Since the roads are lifelines, according forest clearance will be on priority so that the development of roads is not impeded.”

He said the roads would be widened taking into account the speeding and specification. Speaking about the ongoing Manimahesh pilgrimage in the Bharmour mountainous terrain of Chamba district, the minister said he had held a review meeting with officials on Saturday, where he apprised them of the complaints received by him about the illegal plying of transport, rash and negligent driving en route the pilgrimage.

“For the facility of Manimahesh pilgrims, the state government is providing special buses as per the requirements from various destinations en route the Manimahesh shrine up to Bharmour and Hadsar,” Bali said.

He announced introduction of Langera-Shimla and Dalhousie-Bharmour direct buses within a couple of days, while a Volvo bus would start plying from Dalhousie to Delhi on October 2.

He announced plying of mudrika bus within the precincts of Chamba town with a fare of ~10 only. He said 28 news buses had been added to the Chamba depot.

Regarding new bus-terminus of Chamba, he said: “The expression of interest has been invited and as soon as the formalities are complete, the work will be undertaken.” AICC secretary and Dalhousie MLA Asha Kumari was also present.

Shimla, August 24
The Himachal Pradesh Private Education Institutions Regulatory Commission (HPPERC) has served a notice on the principal of Bells Institute of Management and Technology, Shimla, to appear before it in person with the details of total fee collected and amount collected under ‘late fee’ from students.

Acting on the representation of Rahul Prashar, convener, Student’s Voice, that the institute is charging fee from students in the name of ‘late fee’, the commission said in case of failure to comply with the directions by the institute, it wouls be presumed that there was nothing to say in the matter and appropriate decision, as might be deemed proper, would be taken.

After going through the representation, the commission had issued a letter to the institute on July 3, 2014, directing it to clarify the position and in response, the Bells Institute submitted its reply on July 4, 2014. However, the commission noticed that the reply did not provide reasons for charging fee not specifically approved.

The commission accorded the opportunity to the principal to appear in person to explain its position before taking a final decision on the issue. The commission would peruse the records to ascertain whether the ‘late fee’ charge was permissible or not. Prashar said private universities and institutes had been charging exorbitant fine on the pretext of ‘late fee’, in violation of the norms and had a free play last year after the commission was quashed by the High Court in October. It was revived by the Supreme Court in May this year.

The commission has also requested Prashar and an aggrieved student Nagender Sharma to appear before it with his identity card.

However, Shimla Deputy Mayor Tikender Singh Panwar, also a member of the state secretariat of the CPM, said identity of the students who had the courage to go against the wrongdoings of their institutes should not be disclosed and there was no need to call the students as the charging of late fees can be verified from the records and receipts. The fees overcharged should be refunded to the students, he added.

Shimla, August 24
The state government had promised to start 125 collection centres in the state for the procurement of apples from August 15, but many such centres have not been made operational so far. This has hit the markets adversely as poor quality fruit has started entering the markets, farmers said.

“The centres have not started procuring culled fruits from farmers in several places in the Jubbal-Kotkhai belt, as the government notification has not replicated in the fields,” said Vineet Sarjolta, secretary, Himalayan Apple Growers’ Society, Jubbal.

“The delay in procurement has adversely hit the markets. The procurement has not started in many centres and this has worried farmers in the lower and middle belt, where the season is nearing its end,” he added.

Farmers said the government was charging handling charges of Rs 2.20 per bag and they were getting Rs 3 per kg for the procured fruit, which they said was as good as nothing.

Yogesh Azta, pradhan, Dewat gram panchayat, said: “The HPMC pays the cost of the procured apple after a year. Hence, farmers now prefer to send the low-grade fruit to markets, which has hit the market prices.”

Commission agents said: “The entry of culled fruit in the markets has sent the markets crashing which in turn has hit the high-quality fruit.”

Narender Punta, an orchardist from Baghi, said: “The procurement of fruit should start in July as soon as the season begins so that the low-grade fruit does not find its way into the markets.”

Meanwhile, a government spokesperson said: “As many as 117 collection centres have been opened in Shimla district, seven in Mandi district and one in Chamba district under market intervention scheme. These centres are being managed by HPMC and HIMFED and about 16 metric tonne apple has been procured so far.”

He said the procurement centres would be opened as per the demand of fruit growers and as per the requirements of the HPMC and the HIMFED. Eightyone centres would be opened by the HPMC and 66 by HIMFED.

“The fruit will be procured in 18-kg bags or crates or in 30-kg bags or crates with fruit size of 51 mm diametre or more. The hail-hit, russeting, misshapen fruit will also be accepted,” he said.

HPMC vice-chairman Prakash Thakur said the delay in starting the centre was due to some communication from the Centre on the partial funding of the MIS scheme. “The HPMC has started the procurement and is opening these on demand of farmers,” he said. 

Shimla, August 24
Leader of Opposition in state Assembly PK Dhumal criticised the state government for restricting the elected members of the zila parishad and panchayat from allocating funds for developmental works in their wards and has demanded immediate withdrawal of these instructions.

“The directions issued by the government defy the spirit of the 73rd constitutional amendment and infringes the right of elected members of panchayati raj institutions (PRIs),” he said in a statement issued here today.

Dhumal also attacked the government for giving meager relief to rain and flood-affected people and said a relief of ~500 had been given to a person whose cowshed was destroyed in rains. He asked whether it was feasible to construct a cowshed with the meager amount. — TNS

Mandi, August 24
State revenue officials today resorted to ‘Gandhigiri’ in support of their demands. Despite being a holiday, district revenue officials, tehsildars and naib-tehsildars registered pending cases of land mutation under candlelight.

They were on a pen-down strike on August 19 and decided to work on Sunday to compensate the loss caused due to the strike.

Himachal Pradesh Revenue Officials’ Mahasangh convener and Sadar (Mandi) Tehsildar Ajay Prashar said nearly 1,500 cases of land mutation were registered in the state. He said in Sadar tehsil alone, over 250 cases were registered.

Mahasangh president Narayan Singh Chauhan said they had requested the state government to implement the demands which were accepted in a meeting with the principal secretary (revenue) on August 21.

Among others, their main demands include increase in promotion quota of their cadre in Higher Administrative Services from 25 per cent to 35 per cent, vehicles for all tehsildars and naib-tehsildars, hike in registration allowance from Rs 200 to Rs 3,000 per month, promotion of naib-tehsildar to the post of tehsildar in two years instead of four years and regularisation of ad hoc naib-tehsildars.

Chauhan said they would intensify their agitation if their all demands were not accepted.

Dharamsala, August 24
Pristine lakes in the Dhauladhar mountain range, if exploited, can act as ideal trekking sites for high-end tourists and adventure seekers from across the globe.

These lakes, keeping in view the fragile ecology of higher mountain ranges, can also provide employment to local youth and help improve the economy of remote villages nearby, as trekkers from across the world, who love adventure and mountaineering, can visit these places.

RS Rana, an advocate and a trekker who has rambled across the virgin areas of these high-altitude ranges in Dhauladhar, said: “Some lakes in the Dhauladhars stretch across kilometres and can be easily accessed by trekkers. A visit to these lakes is treated like the Mansarovar yatra by local gaddi tribals. They visit some of these lakes every year,” he said

He said: “There are eight lakes in the Dhauladhar range that can be reached within a day or two on foot. While three lakes are small, the other three are comparatively bigger.”

“The Lam Dal lake located at an altitude of 13,200 feet is the biggest of all lakes. The lake stretches to in area of about 2 sq km. Having such a huge lake at such an altitude is mesmerising. To add to it the lake is surrounded by perennial glaciers. The local Gaddi tribals visit the lake on Janmashtami,” he said.

Rahul Rana, another trekker who frequents the area from Dharamsala, said: “There are three treks to reach the lake from Dharamsala. The first trek goes from Kareri lake, 8 km from Dharamsala. The base camp for this trek can be made at Bagga village. The trek comprises a steep gradient after Bagga village and trekkers reach the lake in two days.” The other tracks to the lake are from Ghera village and Triund.

Rana said: “The lake is so beautiful that its colour changes as one sees it after 10 paces. This might be due to the reflection of the mountains overlooking the lake. The orchids are in full bloom during these days around the lake.”

Other major lakes in the Dhauladhar mountain ranges that attract trekkers and adventure seekers include the Kalika and Chander Kup lakes. Chander Kup is located at the highest altitude. It is located at an altitude of above 14,000 feet from the sea level.

The state government has been talking of promoting eco-tourism in the state. However, in the name of eco-tourism just a few roadside sites have been developed. In case these ecotourism sites in Dhauladhar mountains are developed, these can attract tourists from the across the world.

Shimla, August 24
A country-wide manpower survey should be conducted to assess the employment avenues. Also, the requirement of new institutions and courses should based on the survey.

This was stated by eminent educationist Atul Kothari.

“We have been asking the government to conduct a manpower survey, keeping in mind the needs of the country and the states, as providing employment at home would stop brain drain,” he said while talking to The Tribune.

Making a strong plea for specialised universities, he said opening of marine engineering institutes in Gujarat, which has a long coastal line, would saved the employee and employer from finding jobs and employees time and again.

Stressing that value-based education could be implemented in three stages, change in syllabus, increase in co-curricular activities and improvement in environment of the institutions, Kothari said change in syllabi was mainly the concern of the government but every institute could improve the atmosphere and ensure indulgence of students in co-curricular activities.

However, there is a difference of opinion between Kothari and Prof A D N Bajpai, Himachal Pradesh University Vice-Chancellor, and vice-chancellors of private universities on the issue of fee structures.

While Bajpai and Kothari firmly believe that the high fee structure of private universities was “unaffordable” for students with average economic background and “commercialisation” of education was dangerous, the private university VCs tried to draw a line of difference between privatisation and commercialisation.

Prof S P Bansal, Vice-Chancellor of Maharaja Agrasen University, said there is a difference between commercialisation and privatisation. A synergy between the private institutes and government was the need of the hour, he said.

P K Khosla, Vice-Chancellor of Shoolini University, said the shift from engineering was due to stringent rules laid down by the state government. The conditions should be applied in a phased manner and same rules and regulations should be applicable across the country, he maintained.

About 30-40 per cent of engineering seats in institutes are not being filled as there is a shift towards science and students are not able to join courses of their choice due to high fee structure.

Chamba, August 24
The government is ignoring various crucial issues plaguing the town in particular and the district in general. It appears as if Chamba district is not a part of the state.

This was stated by Chamba District Progressive Council president Hari Ram Puri and general secretary Gurmukh Singh Bedi. They said it was sad that no steps had been taken to pull the town out of a pit of non-development in which it was stuck.

“We have been ignored. Equally disquieting is the role of our leaders who do not take up with the government issues, such as railway line, national highway, tunnels to reduce distances, hell-taxi services, engineering college, university and herbal research centres,” office-bearers of the council said.

They said people of the district had raised these issues through different channels, but to no avail.

Una, August 24
The district unit of the Centre of Indian Trade Union (CITU) has demanded that panchayat workers under the MGNREGS be considered on a par with other construction workers and be given all facilities as provided to daily wagers by the HP Building and Other Construction Workers Welfare Board.

As per a press note by CITU district president OP Datta and general secretary Gurnam Singh, MGNREGS workers were not being paid regularly, due to which they were forced to suffer financial hardships. The CITU leaders alleged that industrial and construction daily wagers were also facing problems in Una district and their organisation would launch a rally at the district headquarters on August 25 to highlight their problems. 

Shimla, August 24
In order to encourage students to protect environment and plant trees, the Himachal Pradesh State Legal Services Authority has launched a plantation drive involving 7.50 lakh schoolchildren from all over the state.

Justice Sanjay Karol of the state High Court, who is also the Chairman of the HP State Legal Services Authority, participated in the campaign by planting a chinar sapling in the Rohroo forest under the Theog division today. Justice Karol also participated in a human chain formed by students made to clear and safely dispose of polythene garbage from the plantation site. More than 2,000 students from both government and private schools participated in the plantation drive today.

Speaking on the occasion, Justice Karol said the concept to undertake a plantation drive by involving students and creating awareness about environment protection was conceived in March 2014 by the State Legal Services Authority. He said the campaign was being undertaken jointly in association with schools, Forest Department and the district administration.

He said it was the social and moral duty of every citizen to preserve the environment and plant trees and this was also envisaged in the directive principles of state policy.

He said the NSS and eco clubs should be involved to ensure after care of recently planted trees so that their survival rate was high. He exhorted the local Bar association members to help display the name plates of schoolchildren on the plantation site to encourage a sense of belongingness.

Justice Karol said nature awareness was in the active agenda of the HP State Legal Services Authority and presently, plantation was being encouraged and in future the thrust would also be on pollution control awareness activities, especially polythene.

The Conservator of Forests, Shimla circle, Sanjay Sood said students from government and private schools in Shimla, Theog, Rohru and Chopal participated in the plantation drive. Literature related to plantation techniques developed by the Publicity Forest Division was also distributed during the planting programme. 

Solan, August 24
Stark violations in availing commercial power connections have come to the fore from various parts of the district, including Kasauli, Solan and Chail. These violations have mostly been committed by various builders and hoteliers and as a result, the power infrastructure has been overloaded.

The most significant violation was noticed from tourism units registered under the Home Stay Scheme, as despite the scheme being limited to three rooms with the compulsion of the owner staying on the same premises, stark violations were noticed.

Several such home-stay units operational in Kasauli, Chabbal, Masulkhana, etc, were not only running with five to 10 rooms, but were operating on domestic power connections as the scheme exempts them from commercial tariff.

The scheme has limited the number of dwelling units to three, but with little check by the authorities, even five to 10 rooms were operating under it. This was not only leading to overburdening of power infrastructure, but also loss of revenue to the state government as they were also exempted from the Luxury Tax permissible for other tourism hotels. Interestingly, though the scheme was essentially meant to boost rural tourism almost all such schemes were operated by outsiders.

Apart from this, a practice of commercial builders failing to give actual projection of their power load and availing load in piece meal manner was catching up.

Even builders, including hoteliers operating their units on temporary connections even once the unit becomes functional had come to light on the Dharampur-Kasauli road where the connivance of the field staff of the Power Department could not be ruled out.

Since a builder having higher load is supposed to set up his own transformer, which involves a sizeable cost, the erring builders in a bid to save this cost often project their power utility on the lower side thereby overburdening the infrastructure.

“Since the actual load helps in assessing the power demand which in turn decides the power augmentation of any area, a deliberate attempt to hide actual power requirement adversely affects the existing infrastructure,” confided Dheeraj Mittal, Superintending Engineer, HP State Electricity Board Limited, Solan.

He said such violations had come to light in Chail, Solan and Kasauli and they were tightening the noose around such erring units.

Interestingly, several builders in Solan have availed fewer power connections than the flats available and the practice of hiding actual power consumption was quite common.

The demand for power had gone up manifold in Solan due to the emergence of several educational institutes and commercial builders. 

Sundernagar, August 24
Volunteers of the Rotary Club held a drive to fill potholes on National Highway-21 here today. Umesh Gautam, Zonal Secretary, Rotary Club, said local residents had been complaining about the poor condition of the national highway. Even the National Highways Authority of India and the state government had failed to take any step in this regard. As the bad condition of roads was adversely affecting state tourism, the volunteers launched the drive to repair the damaged patches around the town.

Ashwani Saini, press secretary, said three groups of volunteers (25 in total) started the drive around 7 am. Two vehicles were engaged on which the mixture of concrete and soil was brought from Baggi, 12 km from here.

The team of volunteers was headed by club president PS Guleria. Other office-bearers of the club were also seen engaged in the operation which ended around 4 pm. The area covered was around 6 km. 

Shimla, August 24
More than 3,500 cornea visually impaired persons in the state are losing hope of getting their sight restored as the Health Department has not started the proposed eye collection centres in each district. Meanwhile, the only eye bank at the Indira Gandhi Medical College and Hospital (IGMCH), Shimla, needs “grief councillors” to motivate potential donors. Besides, the eye bank at the Dr Rajendra Prasad Government Medical College (DRPGMC), Tanda, is yet to see the light of the day, even after three years.

The cornea visually impaired persons are fending for themselves due to lack of cornea donors because the Health Department could not launch the collection centres. The IGMCH alone has a waiting list of 200 visually impaired persons, revealed the doctors.

Exposing official apathy on the issue of cornea blindness, Ajai Srivastava, disability rights activist and chairman of Umang Foundation, a public welfare trust, raised the plight of cornea blind persons, on the occasion of the National Eye Donation Fortnight starting from August 25.

He said, “IGMCH collected 72 corneas, out of which only 59 corneas were transplanted and 13 were discarded by the surgeons due to poor quality. People want to donate eyes, but there are no collection centres in the districts”.

Another problem is that eye bank donors are elderly people, whose cornea is poor. Also, cornea needs to be extracted within four hours of the death of the donor and needs to be transplanted in two-three days, said Dr Ram Lal, in charge, IGMC Eye Bank.

It was Umang Foundation’s efforts that an eye bank was started at IGMCH in 2010. “The eye surgeon was trained at AIIMS and a technician was trained in Hyderabad. Also, Rs 15 lakh was released in May 2012 for the eye bank at the Tanda medical college. But the eye bank has not started operations even after three years,” he said.

Dr Anil Chauhan, Principal, DRPGMC, said the college had been allotted space and inspection was being carried out. The eye bank would start soon, he said. “We are in the process of putting all facilities in place,” said Dr Rajiv Tuli, Head, Eye Department, Tanda medical college. 

Chamba, August 24
Hans Raj, Churah MLA, has pleaded for setting up a procurement centre for medicinal herbs and a research centre for herbs grown naturally in abundance in the wooded hill slopes of the Churah valley of Chamba district.

Talking to mediapersons here today, the BJP MLA said a procurement centre would go a long way in generating livelihood for the poor farmers of the valley at their doorsteps. This way, the farmers would be able get lucrative prices for their natural produce like medicinal herbs.

He also appealed to the government to promote medicinal herbs cultivation in the Churah valley so that the valley, which is climatically best-suited and conducive to the cultivation of these herbs, could pave way for poverty alleviation.

Hans Raj warned the
officials not to harass the poor farmers.

Nurpur, August 24
With a view to mounting pressure on the mining mafia and checking illegal mining on the riverbeds of Chakki and Chhonch rivulets in this border subdivision, the police conducted pre-dawn and night raids during the past two days. During its two-day drive against illegal mining, eight tractor-trolleys and tippers were challaned in Kandwal and Dhangu Mazra.

As per DSP Manoj Joshi, who led a police team, Rs 51,900 was realised as fine from the violators engaged in illegal mining activities in the rivulets. The police had launched a special campaign to check illegal mining on riverbeds banned by the National Green Tribunal. The police would confiscate a JCB machine if it was found engaged in any illegal mining activity on the riverbed of any rivulet in the area. 

Mandi, August 24
A faculty training programme was organised at Jawaharlal Nehru Government Engineering College, Sundernagar, on a Linux operating system by IIT-Bombay through Skype under the Spoken Tutorial Project here yesterday.

The project was the initiative of the “Talk to a Teacher” activity of the National Mission on Education through Information and Communication Technology.

The college is acting as a resource centre for the project to enhance knowledge and upgrade the level of faculty members and students .

Jessie Velusamy (IIT-Bombay), coordinator of the project for the state, informed participants about the initiative taken by the IIT to upgrade the skills of faculty members through the project.

Dalhousie, August 24
There is a provision for the opening of a legal centre in villages having a population of over 10,000.

This was stated by Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) Aparna Sharma while presiding over a legal literacy camp organised at Sundla village here today. The camp was held under the aegis of the HP State Legal Services Authority. The CJM said through these legal centres, villagers would be able to understand legal education and information. — OC

Kullu, August 24
The Press Club, Kullu, won the friendly cricket match with the district administration organised on the concluding day of a three-day Red Cross fete here today. The chief guest for the closing ceremony, Divisional Commissioner, Mandi, Onkar Sharma, was welcomed by the Kullu DC and president of the District Red Cross Society, Rakesh Kanwar.

During his address, Sharma said funds collected through the Red Cross Society were provided as an instant relief to the needy and all the masses participating in the fair were contributing towards a larger cause in one way or the other.

Kanwar thanked all the departments, schools and the members of various yuvak mandals for actively participating in the fete. He said during the past three months, the District Red Cross Society had succeeded in making over 1,56,000 associate members with the assistance of various departments and office-bearers of the Red Cross Society.

A 6-km mini-marathon race was held in today in which the Kullu DC and Superintendent of Police, Kullu, Surender Verma and many other dignitaries, besides senior citizens participated. Prizes were awarded to winners of various events, outstanding employees and various panchayats for their remarkable performance. District Health Officer Sushil Chander said over 100 people had donated blood during the fete and free medical check-up of a large number of people was conducted.

Schoolchildren presented colourful cultural presentations and the members of the district administration also staged a group song. All-India Panchayat Parishad national vice-president Satya Prakash Thakur, representatives of various panchayats and other dignitaries were present on the occasion.

Meanwhile, Rakesh Kanwar, Deputy Commissioner (DC) and president of the District Red Cross Society, had inaugurated the fete at the Dhalpur ground here on Friday.

Surender Verma, Superintendent of Police, Manu Sharma, vice-president, Municipal Committee, and other dignitaries were present on the occasion.