Kullu, September 5
The district administration has made preparations for the seven-day-long International Kullu Dussehra, which will begin on October 3.

As per traditions, the district administration has sent an invitation to 292 deities, which are a major attraction of this festival.

ADM Vinay Singh Thakur said deities of the region had been invited for the festival and arrangements would be made for their stay during the festival. Rakesh Kanwar, Deputy Commissioner and chairman of the Dussehra Committee, said Devta Balu Nag and Shringa Rishi were not invited because of the ongoing Dhur dispute.

The chairman said international artistes and cultural troupes from across the country would participate in the event. Local artistes would get a chance to perform at the historic Kala Kendra during the festival, he added. The Dussehra Committee was planning to invite a few of reputed artistes from Bollywood, he said.

Kullu DSP Sanjay Sharma said hundreds of police and Home Guard personnel would be deployed to prevent any untoward incident.

Shimla, September 5
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Mukesh Agnihotri criticised the BJP leadership in the state for threatening four Independent legislators, who were supporting the Congress government. He said this was a sign of utter frustration and disappointment.

Agnihotri, who was interacting with mediapersons here today, said the tall claims made by BJP leaders about the support of Independent MLAs and that the Virbhadra government would be ousted soon after the Lok Sabha elections had fallen flat.

“Now, that their wishful thinking has failed to come out true they are threatening to get the membership of the Independent MLAs cancelled which reflects their utter frustration,” he said.

He questioned the BJP leaders as to why they were restless when Independent MLAs were standing solidly behind the state government and supporting the functioning, welfare schemes and development agenda of the government.

He said BJP leaders should realise that Independent members always support a government on the basis of issues and this practice was also followed in the BJP regime, but the Congress party never resorted to cheap politics on this issue.

He said there was a clear message in the public that Independent members were with the Virbhadra government which was ensuring state’s equal and balanced development. He said it was high time that BJP leaders stop day dreaming and face reality that a stable government was in power which would complete its term.

Agnihotri said BJP leaders were indulging in malicious propaganda against the state government and the party was running away from acting as constructive Opposition and politics based on development.

He said whenever conspiracies had been hatched against Virbhadra Singh, he had come out clean and stronger and this time too conspirators would be exposed.

Palampur, September 5
Dr K K Katoch, Vice-Chancellor, CSK Himachal Pradesh Agriculture University, leading a three-member delegation to Mongolian University of Life Sciences (MULS), interacted with its President Dr T Kheruuga, Vice-President Prof Gombo Gantulga and Prof Batchuun Jalbasuren. Dr T Kheruuga expressed a desire for cooperation in teaching, research, extension and business.

Dr Katoch expressed the agriculture university’s interest in exchange of under graduate and post graduate students and faculty so that trained human resource may be developed for better conduct of research.

Batbold, Member of Parliament, Mongolia, who is also Member of Council of the MULS, welcomed the MoU between both universities for development of agriculture in Mongolia and Himachal Pradesh. Kewal Singh Pathania, member, Board of Management of CSKHPAU interacted with Batbold. — OC

Chamba, September 5
Mountain ranges in the Bharmour, Pangi tribal terrains and the adjacent Pir Panjal mountain range received mild snow in the past 24 hours, the reports pouring into the district headquarters said today.

Owing to the fall in temperature, people, especially the elderly citizens, have started wearing pullovers to protect themselves from the slight chill in the region.

In the tribal Pangi valley, transportation services had been affected due to slippery roads following rainfall, the reports said.

Reports revealed that low-lying areas had downpour thereby triggering landslides near Jyura in the tribal Holi sub-tehsil.

The link to the interior village of Nayagran had been cut off from the sub-divisional headquarters of Bharmour.

Following continuous rain, landslide occurred at Shukrali Nala on the Tissa-Satrundi road in Churah subdivision of the district, the reports further stated.

Dharamsala, September 5
The state government is planning to recruit teachers on an ad hoc basis to overcome the shortage of the staff in state colleges.

Sources here said the government was likely to adopt the Parent Teacher Association (PTA) route to recruit college teachers.

Many lecturers, who were recruited by the previous Congress government through the PTA, are working in government colleges.

Earlier, these lecturers were paid only Rs 12,000 per month. The government has increased their salaries to Rs 15,000. But, even after 10 years of service, these lecturers are working on the ad hoc basis.

However, ad hoc appointment of lecturers in colleges is likely to create a controversy. The previous Congress government had recruited about 14,000 school and college teachers through the PTA route.

The Opposition had then raised questions regarding the mode of selection of candidates. The previous BJP government started the process of replacing the PTA teachers with regular appointments, which led to a prolonged agitation by the PTA teachers.

Now, the government has increased the wages and other facilities for the PTA teachers. Omkar Sharma, an educationist, said the government had been imposing heavy penalty on private colleges and universities for not recruiting regular teachers.

“In many government colleges, teachers are being recruited as guest faculty and they are teaching regularly, but are being made payments on the period basis,” he said.

This was a compromise with the quality of teaching in the government colleges, he added.

The College Teachers Association is also against the recruitment of ad hoc teachers.

RK Kiastha, president of the college association, said there was no provision of ad hoc appointments under the Rashtriya Uchchtar Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA).

He said in 2002, when the government had recruited teachers through the PTA route, they had moved the court. The court had struck down the appointments.

“As per the court’s order, teachers should be recruited through the Himachal Public Service Commission (HPSC). We have planned to move the court against the government’s move to recruit college teachers through the PTA route,” said Kiastha.

The Secretary, Education, and the Director, Education, were not available for comments.

Solan, September 5
Officials of the state pollution control board are working overtime to reduce the pendency of industrial units operating without consent in Baddi-Barotiwala-Nalagarh (BBN) after a petition filed in the National Green Tribunal (NGT) had alleged that nearly 50 per cent of the total 2063 units did not even have the consent of the state pollution control board.

Since a committee constituted by the NGT to inspect industrial pockets of Solan is supposed to submit its report before the NGT during its next hearing in October, the board has posted an additional scientific officer and a junior engineer to reduce the pendency. The Baddi regional office has two SDOs and an equal number of JEs besides a Superintending Engineer.

The petitioner has alleged that the Sirsa river in Baddi has been converted into a drain by paper, rubber and pharmaceutical industries due to discharge of effluents. Emissions from various industries have polluted the environment of the surrounding areas to the extent that inhabitants are falling sick.

The committee comprising member secretary of the board, member secretary of the Central Pollution Control Board, the Chief Engineer of the Public Health Department and the Deputy Commissioner, Solan, will inspect these pockets and present a report to the NGT.

It was learnt that the board management has decided to take into account the last result of any sample drawn from an industrial unit to decide its case for renewal of consent to operate and conditional consent will be granted to a unit if it fails to upload the mandatory Form 1, 4 and 13 on the hazardous waste on the board’s website.

Such consents would be withdrawn if these forms are not provided within a month.

A team of board officials headed by the member secretary will visit the BBN area on September 9 and September 10 to collect sampling from vulnerable sites. Interestingly, various industry associations were already aware of this schedule and they would ensure that their effluent treatment plants were working while the team visits the area. Other committee members of the NGT are likely to visit the area on or after September 19. 

Sundernagar, September 5
Around 36 students of Mahraja Laxman Sen Memorial Degree College were attacked by bees here today.

Of the injured students, 12 were given first aid at the local Civil Hospital and discharged. Three students were badly injured, but were out of danger.

As per information, around 35 students were attacked by bees while they were moving about on campus.

Some other students opted to get themselves treated at a private clinic.

Sources in the Civil Hospital said all students were given treatment for multiple bee bites and discharged.

Shimla, September 5
The speech delivered by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Teacher’s Day today not only impressed teachers but also inspired schoolchildren. Most government and private schools in the state had made arrangements to ensure that he could reach out to every student.

Though very few public and private schools had made arrangements as some declared a holiday or half day, all government schools, including Central schools, ensured that teachers and students listen to the special address by Modi on television or radio.

With most government schools not having television facility, radios were used with loudspeakers to enable the children hear the Prime Minister’s views on education and teachers, which they heard with rapt attention.

There was great enthusiasm among most schools in the capital, including Portmore and Girls Senior Secondary School, Lakkar Bazaar. “He really made the children feel very important and inspired us to rise in life but at the same time urged us to enjoy our childhood,” said Diksha Verma, student of class XI in the Lakkar Bazaar school.

She says his message that girls’ education is a must was very important and also that all students are equal in the eyes of a teacher, who simply can’t discriminate with anyone.

Similar sentiments were echoed by Garima Singh Thakur, student of Class XI in Portmore School. “It felt very nice that our Prime Minister considers students very important and made a special address to the future citizens of the nation,” said Garima.

She said his speech was inspiring and his advice to students to read books on great men and history, to be successful in life was very useful.

Tripta Sharma, teacher in Government Senior Secondary School, Shakrah, said it was for the first time that teachers and students were made to feel important.

“Not just his speech but the very gesture has enthused teachers and students to do their best as a special address by the PM is a big thing,” she says.

Dharamsala, September 5
Students from various schools in Dharamsala watched the live address of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in their schools today.

In government schools, teachers were called at 11 am for preparations.

Most of the schools had arranged TV sets for the address. The programme was watched live by the students on Doordarshan.

However, in Dharamsala no interactive facility was available for students. The children were seen asking teachers if they could interact with the PM as others.

The students braved heavy rain in the region to reach schools. They were enthused by the PM’s programme.

However, certain private schools, especially the missionary schools in the district, did not arrange the facilities to see the address in the schools.

Sources said in these schools the teachers told their students to go home and watch the PM’s address.

Shimla, September 5
On the occasion of Teacher’s Day, Governor Urmila Singh conferred state awards upon 14 teachers and honoured four national award winners for 2012, in the presence of Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh at a ceremony held at Raj Bhawan today.

The Governor and the Chief Minister paid rich tributes to late Dr S Radhakrishnan, former President of India. They termed him a veracious personality, noble laureate, academician and an able administrator all rolled into one.

In her address, Urmila Singh urged all teachers to undertake their profession as a ‘mission’ and serve the country and society with utmost dedication. She said the Indian culture accorded highest reverence to teachers and it was due to the learned ‘Gurus’ and the knowledge possessed by our ancestors that India was regarded as hub of knowledge.

Singh said teaching was a noble profession and carried a huge responsibility because the conduct, character and thoughts of teachers influenced the students. Therefore, they should perform their duties honestly and sincerely. Teachers not only inspire the students as role models but were also nation builders.

Students should be taught the importance of discipline, patriotism and human values so that they not only become educated, but also good human beings and responsible citizens. The curriculum should include vocational courses in order to empower the students for self employment but the goal of education should not be confined to mere employment generation or earning money, she added.

Virbhadra Singh stressed on quality education and not teaching just for the sake of it. “The customary values and adequate knowledge require to be inculcated in the students so that they get ready to compete at all levels and stand well settled. We want to produce such citizens who excel in all fields and at all levels. To achieve this objective, the teachers have to put in more efforts and equally maintain the quality of education being imparted to young minds,” he said.

The education system needed a bit of revamping at primary and elementary levels and teachers needed to be made more responsible for shaping the destiny of the students, he added.

The state government was committed to provide the best education and the literacy rate was more than 83 per cent in the state. Enrollment targets were achieved in primary education and efforts were afoot to achieve the same in elementary and higher education sectors as well, Virbhadra Singh said.

Kangra, September 5
Youth Congress workers today held a demonstration at the gate of Kendriya Vidyalaya, Naleti, near Dehra, and raised slogans against Prime Minister Narendra Modi for allegedly politicising the educational system in the country.

The workers, led by Afzal Ahmed, Youth Congress National Secretary and in-charge for Himachal Pradesh, reached the gates of the school and started raising slogans against Modi when hundreds of the students were enjoying the Prime Minister’s live conversation with the students of the country on the occasion of Teacher’s Day.

Besides Afzal, Dehra Sub-division Vice-President Pankaj Azad was also leading the demonstration. He accused Modi of garnering cheap publicity and misusing the educational institutions by forcing students to stay back in the schools till 5.00 pm.

The school management had locked the gate well in advance and the demonstration was held outside the school premises.

Meanwhile, despite heavy rain and cold weather, students in various private and government schools attended the programme. Reports of celebration of Teacher’s Day were received from MCM DAV College, Kangra, GAV Public School, Kangra, Rainbow International School, Nagrota Bagwan, Green Field Public School, Nagrota Bagwan, High Land Public School, Suthard, and other schools today. 

Shimla, September 5
The High Court today granted interim anticipatory bail to the Principal of Gautam Polytechnic College, Hamirpur, in an alleged ragging case.

Granting the interim bail till September 12, the court directed the prosecution agency to file its status report before the court on or before the next date and listed the matter on September12.

Justice Tarlok Singh Chauhan also directed the Principal of the college, Dr Rajnish Gautam, to cooperate with the investigating agencies and join the investigation tomorrow.

Following the death of a private engineering college student, who had hanged himself from the ceiling of his rented accommodation, the Himachal Police had registered a case under Section 306 (abetment to suicide) of the IPC and under the Himachal Pradesh Educational Institutions (Anti-Ragging) Act, 2009, against the college management and two students in connection with the incident.

The victim, 18-year-old Amit Kumar, hailed from Palampur and was a first- year civil engineering (diploma) student of Gautam Polytechnic College, Hamirpur. He had joined the college only a month before. The father of the victim had complained of ragging and harassment by senior students and also accused the college authorities of not taking action even though his son had complained to them two days before his death. 

Rohru (Shimla), September 5
The agricultural market yard here has become a safe haven for fly-by-night commission agents, who have flooded the Patsari-Mendli-Chirgaon belt buying fruit from growers.

Farmers complained that a commission agent owed Rs 60 lakh to farmers, but disappeared from the non-designated market site of Mendli a few days ago.

The market is getting about 15,000-20,000 apple cartons every day for sale from all over the Rohru subdivision.

The Agricultural Produce Marketing Committee (APMC) has a facility to accommodate 26 vendors in the marketing yard. But over 300 commission agents run their shops here.

This further hampers creates difficulties for the movement of traffic in the town as the yard is located on the main Rohru-Hatkoti highway.

The APMC has banned commission agents from running shops outside the market yard, but they have taken shops on rent from private building owners or run shops under tents paying rent worth Rs 30,000 for a small shop.

The commission agents have flooded places such as Patsari, Mendli and along the Summarkot and Chirgaon roadsides in private houses or under tents.

Sunny Kalta, president of the Rohru commission agents, said: “We have asked the APMC to deal with non-registered commission agents strictly and have ensured that all members of the association get registered with the APMC.”

HS Baweja, managing director, agricultural marketing board, said: “Non-registered commission agent can run shops at the restricted place. We have directed the secretary to take action against such people.” 

Solan, September 5
Two persons were killed and one was injured when the pick-up utility vehicle they were travelling in fell into a nullah at Dhanoi Mor on the Renuka-Sangrah Road around 8.30 am today.

The vehicle, carrying poultry items, was coming from Karnal, Haryana, and was on its way to Sangrah.

Nischint Negi, Additional SP, Sirmaur, said the ill-fated vehicle fell into the nullah when a canter hit it from the rear.

Among the deceased were driver Amar Singh and Vipin, while Govind Ram, who was also travelling in the vehicle, was seriously injured. He was admitted to a Nahan hospital.

Amar Singh fell into the nullah which was in spate. His body is yet to be traced, though divers have been pressed into service.

Nurpur, September 5
The Kangra police have intensified its campaign to check illegal mining on the Chakki riverbed in this subdivision.

In a pre-dawn operation, the Kangra district’s second Indian Reserve Battalion (IRB) today visited a number of places adjoining Kandwal to check mining activities on Chakki riverbed bordering Punjab and Himachal Pradesh.

IRB commandant Sanjiv Gandhi said two JCBs were found conducting mining on the Chakki riverbed at Baari-Khud and Tipri.

He said both JCBs had been confiscated and handed over to the local police for further action. He said the drive to check illegal mining on riverbeds would continue in future as well.

According to information, the IRB comprising over 100 police force personnel continued its operation at different places in the area for over five hours in this morning.

Nurpur, September 5
Manjit Singh, an unemployed youth of Dharoonh village in Kothibanda gram panchayat in Jawali subdivision, was duped of Rs 40,400 on the pretext of getting a job in the Bharitya Kisan Service Centre for the post of Customer Service Representative (CSR). Manjit approached the Kotla police chowki under Jawali police station in this connection yesterday.

As per information, the victim had read a job advertisement in a newspaper on July 30 and sent an SMS to the party from his mobile. He received a three-page application form by post from the Bharitya Kisan Seva Kendra (BKSK) from its head office Kisan Bhavan in New Delhi.

The victim said under the 12th Five-Year Plan, the BKSK had been appointing CSRs. He was promised a salary of Rs 26,500 and directed to deposit a sum of Rs 13,200 as security into the given SBI’s bank account number, named by Mohammad Rahim, which he deposited on August 11. The next day he received a call for depositing Rs 22,600 as fee for his 30 years’ service contract. The victim deposited this amount into the bank account on August 12.

After six days, he again received a call and was informed that an office representative was coming to him for his job verification and asked him to deposit Rs 4,600 for this purpose. On August 19, he deposited this amount into the bank account. When he received no further communication, he contacted Mohammad Rahim on his mobile number. The latter asked him to further deposit Rs 8,000 for getting the appointment letter of his job, but the victim refused to give it. After that, Rahim switched off his mobile. Then he found that he had fallen prey to a racket.

Jawali DSP DC Verma said the police were verifying the documents and bank deposit receipts given by the police and would register an FIR after a preliminary investigation.