Shimla, August 28
The Cabinet, which met here today, finalised the amended draft of the Tenancy and Land Reforms (Amendment) Rules, 2014. The proposed amendment to the Tenancy and Land Reform Act is meant to simplify the procedure of acquiring plots by industrialists.

The Cabinet gave its consent to the proposed amendment to Himachal Pradesh Agricultural and Horticulture Produce Marketing Act.

It provides power to regulate weight and packaging specification for all kind of fruits and stringent enforcement of grading norms to be adhered. This will apply to uniform and standard quality of packed fruits and vegetables, besides enforcement of weight as provided under the Act.

The Cabinet also decided to give two years to Lara Sumta (104 mw) and Sumte Kothang (130 mw) hydropower projects and grant the extension to Chango Yangthang (180 mw) and Yangthang Khab (261 mw) projects.

It was proposed to accord in-principle extension of time without levying any fee to projects in the Hang Rang valley till the ground situation in the valley becomes favourable for implementation of projects. The Cabinet cancelled Dewar-I project in Kullu district.

It also decided to exempt the electricity duty on the power generated for captive or standby consumption through diesel generating sets with prospective effect. The Cabinet also approved to enhance the honorarium of water carriers on a contract basis in Elementary and Higher Education Departments from the existing Rs 1,300 to Rs 1,500 per month. The nod was given to export surplus stock of fuel wood after meeting the requirement of the tribal areas as well as different departments.

The Cabinet accorded the approval to licence for setting up distilleries/breweries and bottling plants and inviting applications from parties.

A decision was taken to create 20 new posts in the High Court and construct head office building of HP Gramin Bank at Ramnagar, Mandi.

Other decisions

* Enhances the honorarium of water carriers in Education Department from the existing Rs 1,300 to Rs 1,500

* Extended time for various power projects

* 20 new posts in the High Court will be created

* Approves licence for setting up distilleries/breweries and bottling plants

Kangra, August 28
MCM DAV College students in Kangra boycotted their classes, held a demonstration and locked the gate of the college in protest against the fee hike and delay in the Students Central Association (SCA) polls by the Executive Council (EC) of Himachal Pradesh University today.

MCM DAV College students protest at the college gate in Kangra on Thursday. Photo: Ashok Raina

Students having affiliation to the Students Federation of Indian (SFI), the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) and the National Students’ Union of India (NSUI) boycotted their classes and even forced some students to come out.

They locked the college gate, held a demonstration and raised slogans against the HPU Vice-Chancellor and the government.

Student leaders demanded to roll back exorbitant fee hike as it was against the interest of students in the state.

Vishal Deep, an SFI leader and Atul, SFI college unit president, were critical of the HPU VC ADN Bajpayee for his alleged threat to students that if students continued their agitation. the university would be forced to close the classes.

Both student leaders alleged that the VC was playing politics by infringing the democratic rights of students on the one hand and hiking the fee beyond the reach of a common Himachalis on the other.

SFI leaders gave a call to other student organisations to join hands to formulate a Joint Coordination Committee which would lead this agitation to a logical conclusion.

The students took out a protest march through the main market of the town. They threatened that the agitation would continue till their demands were met. 

Shimla, August 28
The Cabinet today turned down the recommendation of the Select Committee of the Vidhan Sabha to give power of contempt of court to the Lokayukta.

The Cabinet which met here under the chairmanship of Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh approved only a few recommendations made by the Select Committee on the enactment of the new Lokayukta Act.

The committee to whom the issue had been referred was headed by Health and Law Minister Kaul Singh Thakur.

said the Cabinet was of the opinion that since there was no provision for contempt of court in the Jan Lokpal Act passed by Parliament, there was no need for the state to empower the Lokayukta with contempt of court powers. It said the Lokayukta Act by the state government must be in consonance with the Central Act in all respects.

The Bill for enactment of the new HP Lokayukta Act 2014 will be tabled in the Assembly whenever the session is convened. Being an important enactment aimed at curbing corruption, it will be debated upon in the Assembly before it is passed. The Bill was to be tabled in the House during the monsoon session which was abruptly adjourned sine die.

The Cabinet rejected the recommendations of the committee that there was need to make the Lokayukta multi-members as it felt the present strength of one member was more than sufficient to deal with the volume of graft complaints being received by it. 

Ordinance to regularise illegal houses

The Cabinet gave its nod to an ordinance on the Town and Country Planning Act, 1977 (Amendment) 2014. With the ordinance, the government will be able to invite applications from owners of unauthorised structures to apply for regularisation. This will help regularise over 25,000 buildings which have been made in violation of the norms. The Select Committee has recommended that up to 70 per cent deviation should be regularised after taking the compounding fee.

Solan, August 28
The CII, Himachal Pradesh council, organised the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Conclave-2014, at Baddi today. Mukesh Agnihotri, Industries Minister, urged investors at the Baddi-Barotiwala-Nalagarh (BBN) to enhance their participation in the CSR.

He said the state government was committed to providing an investor-friendly environment, including time-bound clearance to all pending projects.

He assured them that Section 118-C of the Tenancy and Land Reforms Act, 1972, would be simplified soon.

“We have undertaken several industry-friendly steps to help investors. Efforts are afoot to reduce VAT on certain goods,” he said.

The minister urged the investors to provide a healthy environment to people residing in the Baddi-Barotiwala-Nalagarh area.

Arun Rawat, Chairman CII, said: “It is essential that the CSR percolates at all levels in any organisation and people must be made aware of their responsibility.”

Shimla, August 28
The Aam Aadmi Party(AAP) today urged the state government to issue a white paper on accident-prone spots in the state as accidents have become a daily occurrence on national as well as state highways and other roads taking several precious lives.

In a communication to The Tribune, AAP activist BR Kaundal, a retired Himachal Pradesh Administrative officer, said: “The government has failed to protect the lives of people in pubic transport as accidents have become a day-to-day phenomenon. More than 500 people have died and more than 3,000 injured in the past eight months in the state.”

Kaundal said: “We have urged people to resort to Gandhigiri protest against politicians. It is painful to know that in 78 per cent cases, human error is the main cause of accidents. The dilapidated condition of roads, negligent and drunken driving and poor execution of the Motor Vehicles Act by the state machinery are the root causes of this menace.”

Roads are the lifeline of the people in Himachal Pradesh because there was little rail or airways facility in the state, he added.

Kaundal said the state had 1,260 km national highways and more than 35,000 km roads, but most of these roads were not worthy to ply vehicles resulting in hundreds of accidents every year.

He said more than 50,000 vehicles were being registered in the state every year and lakhs of vehicles were coming from outside the state.

“The condition of the National Highway 21is pathetic and every day there is heavy wear and tear due to hundreds of vehicles plying on it resulting in road accidents. But the government and the Opposition are busy in settling their own scores,” he said. 

Kullu, August 28
Air-India will resume the Delhi-Kullu operations from September 1. Sandeep Puri, Air-India station manager at Bhuntar confirmed the reports and said the flight, with the ATR-42 type aircraft, will commence from Delhi at 6 am and return from Kullu at 7.40 am to reach Delhi at 9 am.

Puri said there were heavy bookings for September and the operations were temporarily suspended during the rainy season.

Shimla, August 28
Residents of tribal belts of Lahaul-Spiti and Kinnaur have sought a threefold hike in the grant under the Border Area Development Fund (BADF) from the Ministry of Defence.

They have sought the increased grant to strengthen infrastructure, mainly village bridges, roads, irrigation and communication network in border villages where China has strengthened its infrastructure along the Spiti-Shipki border.

The voices of dissent in the border area, as it happened when the two Pin valley leaders made the “China Chalo” remark to a TV reporter during the Ladarcha fair on August 19, must be nipped in the bud, focusing on local infrastructure development. But Lahaul-Spitit legislator Ravi Thakur termed it as a “political stunt to grab attention”.

The inputs gathered by The Tribune from the tribal belt revealed that the state was not getting enough funds under BADF from the Centre like other border states of Jammu Kashmir and Arunachal Pradesh were getting.

“Funds meant for the development of border areas do not percolate down to the village level,” revealed officials, adding “the reason behind it is that local contractors enjoy the patronage of local politicians in power and allegedly corner most of the funds.”

They said this was not only true of the BARDF, but also of funds allocated for the development of tribal districts under the tribal sub-plan. Irrigation tanks got washed away when streams and rivers surged in summer, so was the case of foot bridges across nullahs, they resented.

They told The Tribune that solar lights and transmission lines were damaged during winter. In summer, these were either discarded as they are rendered out of order. The communication system and telephone exchange of the BSNL had shut down and Internet and land lines were out of order as no one bothered to restore it, rued an official posted in the district.

“Many villages, such as Kurched, Nalda and others in Tinkrit and Cimreat panchayat of Miyar valley in Udaipur subdivision of Lahaul, have no road connectivity and bridges,” said Ram Lal, a local resident.

“The planting of trees in the cold desert of Spiti has not gained ground that would have made the local ecology better for living,” said Ringzing, a resident of Spiti.

“We have sought a threefold hike in the BADF for border districts in the state from the Centre as the present grant of Rs 7 crore is insufficient,” said Ravi Thakur, who is also the vice-chairperson of the Schedule Tribes Commission of India. 

Demands

* The retirees have demanded immediate release of all benefits and arrears on a par with their Punjab counterparts

* According to them, while the state government has notified 10 per cent DA installment to the serving employees, the notification to the retired employees is still due

* They have also demanded opening pensioner's homes at the block and district headquarters where they can avail of some recreational facilities

Shimla, August 28
The HP High Court today declared the election of the Kandrola Plasi (Hamirpur) gram panchayat pradhan as null and void by saying that she had encroached on government land.

The court passed the order on a plea filed by Mahar Chand, where he challenged the election of Taro Devi as pradhan of the Kandrola Plasi gram panchayat on the ground that that she had encroached upon the government land.

While allowing the petition, a Division Bench comprising Justice Rajiv Sharma and Justice Sureshwar Thakur observed that the SDM, Nadaun, and the DC, Hamirpur, had wrongly interpreted the provisions of the Panchayat Raj Act. It is clear from documents on record that the husband of Taro Devi had encroached upon the government land and had filed a case for regularisation of the land. 

Shimla, August 28
Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh launched the state-level Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojna (PMJDY) here today. The PMJYD is an ambitious financial inclusion scheme under which the government intends to provide every household with a bank account and an insurance cover to the poor.

The Chief Minister said the scheme would go a long way in strengthening the socio-economic development and would provide several other benefits to people and associate them with the banking system.

He said every account holder would get a RuPay debit card with rupees one lakh as accident cover. There was also a provision of micro-loan upto Rs 50,000 for women.

He said the main objective of the scheme was to provide banking facility to the poorest of the poor so that in case of any financial emergency they could be provided relief through the scheme.

“The banks have played a pivotal role in strengthening the economy of people in the agriculture and the rural development sector in the state. There are around 1,827 branches of banks in the state, out of which 1,460 branches were functioning in the rural areas,” he added.

Meanwhile, the scheme evoked spontaneous response and 200 bank accounts with deposit of Rs 100 were opened instantly at the Solan branch of the State Bank of Patiala.

The bank accounts are being opened in all the districts across the state.

Una: The Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojna was launched today at the district-level. Deputy Commissioner Abhishek Jain was the chief guest on the occasion.

State BJP president-cum-Una MLA Satpal Satti was also present on the occasion.

Speaking on the occasion, Jain said there were 7.06 lakh savings account holders in Una district as against a population of about 5.5 lakhs.

He said about 5 per cent of the adult population was still without a savings bank account.

Satpal Satti said the scheme was announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his Independence Day address to the nation. The scheme was formally launched today all over the country.

Ravi Kant Sharma, lead district manager of banks, said during the last 14 days, around 10,879 savings bank accounts had been opened under the scheme.

He said by next one year, all the adult population of the district would have access to bank accounts.

Zila Parishad chairperson Rani Ranaut was also present on the occasion.

Shimla, August 28
Three youths from Punjab shot at a watchman of a parking place near Jodha Niwas, 200 metres from the Chief Minister’s residence late last night.

The trio, identified as Gurkirat Singh (20) of Fazilka, Gajan Singh (24) and Amarjeet Singh (34) of Chandigarh, were waiting for watchman Pawan at the parking place and as he arrived, they started beating him up with rods. An assailant took out his country-made pistol and opened fire at him.

However, it misfired as a boy hit him with a brick. Soon locals gathered and the accused fled the spot. The accused were chased and nabbed by the police and a case of attempt to murder was registered against them under Section 307 of the IPC. The police also recovered the shell of the fired bullet from the spot and cartridges from the accused.

Witness Saurabh said they had come to Shimla about one-and-a-half-month back and had an altercation with Pawan, who refused to allow them to park their vehicle at the place as it was only for local residents.

SP, Shimla, DW Negi said the accused would be produced in court tomorrow.

Man held for kidnapping

The police have arrested one person in the 4-year-old Yug kidnapping case from Theog on Tuesday night. The accused Sanjay Swan from UP was a fruit seller, living in Theog.

The SP said the police had taken the accused on three-day remand and during interrogation, he reportedly confessed that he had asked for ransom after he saw the poster of the missing boy but the kid was not in his custody.

The police are trying to ascertain whether there is any link between the accused and the father of the missing kid and find out the reason for abduction. Yug was kidnapped on July 14 from the busy Ram Bazaar area of Shimla.

Sundernagar, August 28
A final year student of the mechanical branch of Government Polytechnic College, Sundernagar, was booked by the police for allegedly teasing a girl of first year and for indulging in ragging of the girl. The police said the girl, a student of Government Polytechnic College, yesterday filed a complaint against the accused student in this regard.

Sources said after receiving a complaint against the accused the college authorities had placed him under suspension and the case had been forwarded to the college committee, formed to deal with such cases.

As per some junior students who did not want to be named, the authorities were not serious in dealing with cases pertaining to ragging.

Sundernagar DSP Kulbhushan Verma said a case under the provisions of the Himachal Pradesh Educational Institutions (Prohibition of Ragging) Act, 2009, read with Sections 354 and 509, IPC, had been registered against the final year student. Teams had been sent to arrest the student, he added.

Kullu August 28
Nearly 641 schoolgirls were given martial arts training in the second phase of the 12-day long camps held at government senior secondary schools (GSSS) at Chansari, Kharal, Mohal, Bhuntar, Thrass and Hurla.

The police have trained 1,136 girls since July in an endeavour to impart self-defence techniques to over 7,500 girls of the district.

Kullu SP Surender Verma and DSP Sanjay Sharma awarded certificates and cash prizes to trainees at separate functions organised at Bhuntar and Kharal. A demonstration of martial arts was presented by the trainees at these functions.

The SP urged students to refrain from drug abuse and apprised them about their role and responsibility in safeguarding the rules and regulations.

The DSP said the training was aimed at increasing the confidence level among girls so as to equip them to meet the challenges of life and empower them to deal effectively with anti-social elements. 

Solan, August 28
Sherwood College, Nainital, lifted the 17th All-India Bhupinder Singh Memorial Soccer Tournament after defeating YPS, Patiala, in the concluding match of the event played today at Lawrence School, Sanawar.

In the semi-final matches played earlier during the day, Sherwood College triumphed over Sanawar 3-1, while YPS, Patiala, humbled Modern School Delhi 1-0.

As a consequence the grand finale of the tourney witnessed a closely contested match between Sherwood College and YPS, Patiala.

Sherwood took the lead in the tenth minute of first-half, when Anish drove the ball into the goal from the penalty area due to a miscalculated move by the YPS keeper.

Thereafter, YPS equalised just before the end of the first-half through a direct kick outside the D-area by Ishwar from the centre-line. With the scores locked at 1-1, the second-half witnessed Ishwar strike again in the tenth minute through a direct trajectory from the centre-line giving YPS the much-needed lead of 2-1. Sherwood reciprocated again shortly by an attack from the right flank by Rohan, taking the score to 2-2. The match ended in a tie, which even the extra-time was unable to break.

Consequently penalty strokes were awarded to decide the winner, whereby Sherwood proved its supremacy by scoring three goals against the two scored by YPS. Thus Sherwood overcame YPS 5-4.

Ashish Bhatia, Chief Operating Officer, Fortis Healthcare India, and a distinguished alumnus of Sanawar was the Chief Guest. He gave away prizes to the winners.

Headmaster Praveen Vasisht felicitated the organisers and officials.

The proud winners

Suren Rana of Sherwood College, Nainital, was awarded the player of the final match, Sukhman of YPS Patiala bagged the award for the best goalkeeper of the tournament, while Rohan Yadav of Sherwood College, Nainital, bagged the award for the highest scorer of the tournament and Arpit Parihar of the host school was declared the best player of the tournament. 

Chamba, August 28
Forest Minister Thakur Singh Bharmouri yesterday laid the foundation stone of the Sukrali Nala bridge on the Chamba-Killar highway in Churah subdivision. The bridge connects the isolated Pangi tribal valley and the rest of Chamba district as well as other parts of the state.

Bharmouri said the concrete bridge would be constructed at a notional cost of Rs 2.50 crore in a time-bund manner as the state government was paying special attention to the construction of roads and bridges.

He said the bridge would be of great advantage for vehicular traffic and would link the 12 interior panchayats of the tough terrain in Churah subdivision. Earlier, the link between these panchayats and the Pangi valley used to remain cut off due to floods and landslides. Churah SDM Sanjay Kumar Dhiman and leaders of the local area were also present on the occasion. 

Kullu August 28
Himachal Pradesh High Court Chief Justice Mansoor Ahmad Mir will inaugurate a workshop on “Law relating to motor accident claims” for the district and additional district and sessions judges in Manali on August 30.

District and Sessions Judge, Kullu, Purender Vaidya said the workshop would be organised by the Himachal Pradesh Judicial Academy, Shimla, and 32 judges will participate in the event.

He said several dignitaries and esteemed guests would also be present. 

Una, August 28
The state government has not included SVSD College, Bhatoli in Una district, in the list of the aided colleges whose grant has been increased from 50 per cent to 95 per cent.

There are five aided colleges in the state which includes SVSD College, Bhatoli, St Bede’s College, Shimla, DAV College, Kangra, DAV College, Kotkhai, MLSM College, Sundernagar. All the said colleges were getting 50 per cent grant aid from the state government.

In a notification issued here yesterday, the state government has included the names of only four colleges. The sources available here said the college management had received letters from various government departments regarding the takeover of the college.

After the efforts of takeover of the college failed, attempts were made to appoint an administrator. The university executive passed a resolution suggesting appointment of an administrator at SVSD College. The resolution was sent to Urmila Singh, Governor, for approval.

The government also filed caveat petition at the Himachal High Court to counter the move of the private management to take relief from the court against the appointment by the Governor.

During the last parliamentary elections, the university also wrote to the election commission seeking permission to appoint administrator in the college.

The previous Congress government took over the college on September 14, 2006. However, the management committee of the college moved Himachal High Court.

The court struck down the takeover of the college on a plea that it was taken over against the policy of the state government.

As per the policy of the state government, the process of taking over private colleges can only be done in case the management of college gives their ascent to it. However, in case of SVSD College the private management had not given any ascent for takeover of the college.

As per the High Court order, the previous government de-notified the college and handed it over to the private management.

However, now the present government has again started with the proceedings to take over the college.

The SVSD College has strength of about 2,500 students. The authorities of the college are alleging political interference in the matter. 

Palampur, August 28
Shanta Kumar, MP and senior BJP leader, today asked the state government to take care of Seema Sood who had sought permission from the President and the Prime Minister to die as she was bed-ridden, confined to one small room for the past 22 years because of illness.

Shanta, in a letter addressed to Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh, said it was the moral responsibility of the state government to provide her best possible medical treatment and she should not be left to die in isolation.

The minister said it was unfortunate that till date, the government had not come to her aid and no official of the state visited her house to provide her immediate financial assistance.

Shanta told the Chief Minister that he had visited Seema’s house two days ago and he was shocked to see her pitiable condition. There was none to take care of her except her 85-year-old mother, he added. Besides, she had no source of income. He said it was sad that the government was giving her a pension of Rs 600 per month.

Shanta said former Chief Minister PK Dhumal had shifted her to Fortis Hospital in Mohali (Punjab) in 2008 and multiple surgeries were conducted on her at government expenses. Now she again needed a medical check-up and the state government should provide her treatment. 

Kangra, August 28
A bleeding gynaecology patient brought to the Kangra Civil Hospital was refused an ultrasound by the radiologist, who said she would not do the ultrasound without the referring gynaecologist filling ‘Form F’. This led to a commotion and the bleeding patient had to leave the hospital premises without treatment.

The patient was referred for an ultrasound by Gynaecologist Dr Anurag Sharma without filling ‘Form F’ and Radiologist Dr Param Preet Bawa refused to entertain her.

Dr Gurdharshan Gupta, Senior Medical Officer (SMO), said he had received a verbal complaint from the patient and had requested the concerned radiologist to carry on the ultrasound.

He had lodged a complaint with the Kangra Chief Medical officer (CMO) regarding the issue and also sought an explanation from the radiologist.

Dr Bawa said she had refused to conduct the ultrasound as Form F was a prerequisite for conducting ultrasonography of antenatal and gynae patient.

“I cannot risk my service and do the ultrasound of a pregnant woman without Form F. I cannot violate the PNDT Act and get a bad name for myself and the hospital,” she added.

She said it was for the referring doctor to fill up the ‘Form F’ and not for the doctor conducting the ultrasound. During the last seven months, she had done 3,000 ultrasounds, which included 1,231 ultrasonographies, referred to her with ‘Form F’ filled by the referring doctors.

She alleged that on June 24, 2013, the health secretary had directed gynaecologists of civil hospitals of Kangra, Dehra and Nurpur to conduct ultrasonography of antenatal and gynae cases of their own and an ultrasound machine was kept at the disposal of Dr Anurag Sharma, which was gathering dust.

Dr Sharma said Form F is to be filled by the doctor conducting the ultrasonography and not by the referring doctor. An ultrasound machine supplied to his department was out of order from day one, he said.

The allegations and counter allegations by the doctors have left the patients suffering.

CMO BM Gupta has been a mute spectator to the trauma the patients are facing. Clear instructions need to be issued to doctors so that the patients were not tossed from one room to another and forced to leave the hospital without treatment.

Mandi, August 28
The police have registered a case of negligence against a panchayat president and a ward member in the death of two minor boys at Batwara in Sundernagar subdivision of the district.

The police said the case was registered on the complaint of Jagarnath, a resident of Panjolth under Batwara panchayat, against panchayat president Mehar Chand and ward member Govind Ram.

Investigating Officer ASI Brij Lal said the water tank was constructed under the MGNREGS in 2007-08 under the supervision of the panchayat president and the ward member.

The police said the two children had drowned due to their negligence as no proper fencing of the tank had been made.

Mandi, August 28
A resident of Dadahi village under Baldwara tehsil in the district committed suicide by consuming some poisonous substance.

In a complaint to the Sarkaghat police, Shavitri Devi alleged that her son Kamal Kant committed suicide yesterday due to harassment by his wife Binta Devi.

Sub-Inspector Vishal Rathore said a case had been registered and further investigation was on.

PO held in Kullu

The district police today arrested a proclaimed offender (PO) from Kullu district.

The PO Hunt Cell headed by head constable Ashok Kumar arrested Gian Chand Sharma, a resident of Banala village under Banjar tehsil of Kullu district. He was declared the PO under the NIA Act by the Court of Special Judicial Magistrate, Mandi, on July 1, 2014.