Shimla, September 20
The hike in fee has become a contentious issue due to its political fallout and fear of agitation by students. Himachal Pradesh University’s fee structure which had remained “untouched in totality” for nearly 44 years, has been revised for the first time by effecting a “phenomenal” increase in the existing fee.

The revised fee structure is less than that in Panjab University (PU), but the hike is “very steep” as compared to the existing fees, feel students. Even the fee of Himachal Board of School Education conducting Class X and XII examinations are more than the non-revised fee of HPU for undergraduate degree courses.

The university’s committed liabilities have increased due to the implementation of revised pay scales for teachers and non-teaching employees and the salary and pension liabilities have almost doubled, but there has been no commensurate increase in government grants. The university is not even in a position to pay pensions and other dues despite posts of teacher and non-teaching staff lying vacant.

Executive Council member Chaudhry Waryam Singh Bains said: “The employees are over burdened as 246 posts of teacher are lying vacant and 18 will retire next year. Not only this, 333 posts of non-teaching employees are vacant and 62 more will retire this year.”

The fee for BA, BSc, BCom, BBA, BCA and honours courses has been raised from Rs 250-280 to Rs 800 (regular)-1,000 (private), while it ranged between Rs 2,000 and Rs 2,200 in Panjab University. For BEd courses, the fee has been hiked from Rs 800-850 to Rs 1,600-1,800, while it was Rs 1,600 in PU.

The fee hike has been very steep for MJMC/BJMC and the revised fee has been fixed at between Rs 1,600 and Rs 1,800 from the existing fee of Rs 50. But the fee was almost double at Rs 3,500 at PU.

The fee for medical courses has been increased four to six times from Rs 1,000 to Rs 4,000 for BDS and BAMS, Rs 1,000 to Rs 5,000 for MBBS first and second professional examination and Rs 1,000 to Rs 6,000 for MD, MDS and MBBS final year.

However, the fee for these courses ranged between Rs 6,800 to Rs 7,700 at PU.

Surprisingly, the fee for some courses such as MA/MCom/ MBA /MTA/MCA/ MSc/LLB and LLM have been increased 20 to 30 times from Rs 60 and Rs 80 to Rs 1,200 and Rs 1,500, whereas the fee for similar courses at PU ranged between Rs 1,300 and Rs 2,100. The fee for golden chance has been hiked from Rs 1,000 to Rs 3,000 while late fee for submitting the examination form has been increased from Rs 100 to Rs 1,200 for seven days, Rs 125 to 3,600 for 15 days and Rs 150 to Rs 20,000 under very special circumstances with permission of the VC.

The fee for verification of transcripts for applying for posts outside India has been hiked five times from Rs 1,000 to Rs 5,000. Even the fee for obtaining duplicate certificate has been increased from Rs 30 to Rs 300/600/12,000 while the same for provisional consolidated certificates would be Rs 500/1,000 and 1,500 as compared to Rs 300 at present.

Students are agitated, as they fear that once the decision to increase the fee is implemented, it would be a routine affair in the future and the provision to increase the fee by 10 per cent every year in the multiples of Rs 50 and Rs 100.

Chamba, September 20
Students of the local government postgraduate college took out a rally in the main bazaars of the town today to protest the lathicharge on students who were agitating for the withdrawal of fee hike.

They shouted slogans against the Himachal Pradesh University (HPU) management for imposing a huge burden of fee hike on students.

Later, they presented a memorandum to the state government and to the university management through the district administration pertaining to their demands.

Una, September 20
Activists of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) boycotted classes at various colleges in Una district against fee hike today.

At Government College, Una, ABVP activists started gathering at the main gate since 9am and requested students not to enter the campus to attend classes.

College Principal Dr SK Chawla, along with senior teachers, tried to convince the students, who failed to relent. Apprehending trouble, the college administration requisitioned the services of the police, but students continued sloganeering against University Vice-Chancellor, state government and college administration for about two hours.

Traffic moved at a snail’s pace as hundreds of agitating students scattered on the Una-Chandigarh state highway in front of the college.

Later, Rahul Sharma, ABVP district organising secretary, said the university had exorbitantly hiked the fee and it was becoming difficult for students from middle-class families to study even at government institutions, leave alone private ones.

He said if the hike was not rolled back, they would be forced to intensify the stir.

Shimla, September 20
Himachal Pradesh University (HPU), which had decided to get all boys’ hostels vacated by today, has allowed students to stay in the hostel if they sign an undertaking that they will not violate Section 144 of the CrPC imposed on the campus and follow the hostel norms.

The decision was taken keeping in view the problems faced by those students who were not involved in students’ politics.

Members of the NSUI signed the undertaking and students owing their loyalty to the ABVP and the SFI vacated the hostels.

Education Bandh was observed by students at HPU today on a call of the joint action committee of the SFI and the ABVP.

Mandi, September 20
A social activist here has threatened to go on an indefinite fast to protest the unprecedented fee hike by Himachal Pradesh University (HPU) and lathicharge on students in Shimla.

In a memorandum submitted to the Deputy Commissioner, to be forwarded to Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh, Desh Raj Sharma said HPU had increased the fee by 100 to 2,000 per cent which would put an extra burden on parents of students who were already reeling under high inflation.

He said most of the students came from rural background and it would make it difficult for parents with meagre income to afford their education.

He said if the government failed to rollback the fee hike, he would launch an indefinite fast.

Shimla, September 20
Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh today stressed the need for completing projects in various departments within a stipulated time.

He was presiding over the review meeting of the 20-Point Programme at Bachat Bhawan here.

“All schemes being executed in the Public Works, Irrigation and Electricity Departments must be completed in a time-bound manner so that the public can benefit from these projects,” he said.

He expressed concern over the delay in the execution of major works being implemented in the district and asked officers of the IPH, PWD and Electricity Board to debar and blacklist contractors, who failed to start the work for a long period after the allotment of tenders, for five years.

He said such contractors would not be eligible and be allowed to participate in the tender process for a period of not less than five years.

He also took a serious note of the fact that the work of one single scheme was being allotted to more than one contractor.

The CM also invited suggestions from panchayat representatives and directed officers to complete all ongoing projects in the district within a stipulated time and warned of disciplinary action for delay in the execution of schemes.

The CM said work on the construction of toilets in all schools should be completed within two months. “Toilets should be constructed in all schools right from primary to senior secondary schools throughout the state,” he said.

He said it must be ensured that there were separate toilets for boys and girls in every school.

Virbhadra said essential steps would be taken to expedite work on the channelisation of the Pabbar river and directed officers concerned to put up the Detailed Project Report (DPR) after completing necessary formalities pending with the Central Water and Power Management.

The CM said work on all ongoing roads in the district must be completed on priority and maintenance works be undertaken simultaneously.

“People should also cooperate when roads are constructed in their area and voluntarily donate land for it,” he said.

Earlier, the CM dedicated the Conference Hall named Rosan Hall, Disaster Management Call Centre, e-stamping Centre and National Land Record Sugam Centre, which is a modernised centre with facility of digitised cadastral (Musaavis) maps.

Dharamsala, September 20
The present Congress government is discriminating against Kangra. The state government has failed to allot land for the Central University campus. The prestigious project is getting delayed inordinately.

Former BJP minister Kishan Kapoor made these allegations while addressing a press conference here today.

He said Tanda medical college should have been upgraded to AIIMS level to benefit maximum people in the state. However, the present government was giving the proposal to bring up AIIMS in Mandi district despite the fact that the area already had a medical college and an IIT, he said. The decision of the state government to set up an IIM in Sirmour district, which is close to Uttarakhand was also unjustified, he said. “If an IIM is set up at the proposed place, it will benefit Uttarakhand more than HP,” he said.

He said despite the fact that there were three Cabinet ministers and two parliamentary secretaries from Kangra in the present Congress government, they had failed to raise their voice against the discrimination against Kangra. He said Congress had always discriminated against Kangra, adding that most of the projects that were being inaugurated by Congress ministers in Kangra were initiated by the previous BJP government.

He said most of the projects announced by the present government for Kangra, including the IT park, were just limited to foundation stones. He thanked Shanta Kumar for getting approval from the Centre for laying the Pathankot-Leh railway line.

Kapoor flagged off a truck containing 1,000 blankets as relief for J&K flood victims on behalf of Dharamsala BJP unit.

Una, September 20
Jagjit Singh Mankotia, Haroli block president of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), today said their block unit would send 200 quintals of foodgrains to the Jammu and Kashmir flood victims.

Presiding over a meeting of the party unit at Haroli, he said about 90 quintals of foodgrains had already been collected and party workers were going from house to house for gathering grain.

Mankotia said other relief items, such as blankets and clothing, were also being collected. A truck with the relief material would be dispatched to the party’s flood relief centre in Jammu on September 24, he added.

Ram Kumar, who contested as a BJP candidate from Haroli segment, was also present.

Dharamsala, September 20
Residents of Sidhbari today carried out a march demanding speedy investigation into the murder of Navjeevan Mankoita, posted as election tehsildar at Chamba. The tehsildar was found dead near the Karmapa monastery, near Sidhbari, about six km from Dharamsala, under mysterious circumstances on September 9.

The police have registered a case of murder.

Family members of the deceased, who participated in the march, said they had given names of certain suspects to police. Sanjeevan Mankotia, brother of the deceased, said they had informed the police that some locals had entered into a fight with Navjeevan on the fateful day. However, it was strange that the police had not rounded up any of them till date.

The family members asked if the police were displaying such slackness in investigating the murder of a government official, what would be the plight of common people?

The people who participated in the march submitted a memorandum to the Kangra Deputy Commissioner C Paulrasu.

He assured them of speedy investigation into the case.

Nurpur, September 20
To pass benefits of the National Rural Livelihood Mission (NRLM) to deserving women beneficiaries, the Rural Development and Panchayati Raj Department today organised an awareness workshop in which members of mahila mandals from various gram panchayats took part.

Rakesh Prajapati, Assistance Commissioner (Development)-cum-Block Development Officer, Nurpur, while presiding over the workshop, said Nurpur was the single development block in Kangra district and sixth in the state selected for the ambitious self-employment scheme last year. The scheme had been launched for poor rural women’s economic empowerment.

The rural women were informed in the workshop that Rs 1.83 crore was being disbursed as loans, with 7 per cent annual interest, to 60 women self-help groups (SHGs) to be constituted in the near future. Members of these groups, comprising five to 10 women members from poor families, would initially be identified by the recently-formed panchayat level committees comprising local women ward member, mahila mandal members, anganwari workers, SHG member and panchayat secretary.

Shimla, September 20
While a long dry spell in several areas of the country is adversely affecting crop productivity, the Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVK) in Reckong Peo (Kinnaur) has shown the way to revive the cultivation of nutrient-rich and climate-resilient traditional crops such as ogla and phafra (buckwheat).

As cash crops are more affected as compared to traditional crops in the area, the KVK launched a project for inter-cropping of rajmash in apple orchards to ensure additional income with soil conservation and reduction in use of nitrogenous fertilisers. Similarly, irrigation through plastic pipes is being demonstrated to contain the root rot disease and reduce micro-nutrients’ loss in orchards.

Further, soil fertility map will be developed for 100 hectare area to ensure balanced use of fertilisers thereby reducing addition of soil pollutants to the soil.

Dr Rajeshwar Singh Chandel, Associate Director and Programme Coordinator of the kendra, said: “The conservation of Indian honeybee being hived in traditional houses is on the priority task of the project so that it can be utilised not only for harvesting honey, but as a natural and climatically resilient resource for pollination of different crops.”

The dry spell not only reduces crop yield, but also increases the attack of different insect-pests and diseases and considering this fact, the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), New Delhi, launched a flagship project National Initiative on Climate Resilient Agriculture (NICRA) in February 2011, through KVKs in 100 selected districts of the country and Kinnaur was one of these.

The Central Research Institute for Dryland Agriculture, Hyderabad (CRIDA), has been declared as a leading Centre to build the capacity of the farmer to meet the challenges of the changing climatic situation through technology demonstrations on climate resilient crops and in Himachal, the project is being implemented in Kinnaur, Kullu, Hamirpur and Chamba districts through the respective KVKs.

KVK Kinnaur of Dr YS Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry at Reckong Peo has been responsible to operate this project in the district since 2011-12.

The Zonal Monitoring Committee (ZMC) of ICAR, New Delhi, paid a visit to the KVK in Reckong Peo on September 9, 2014, to monitor the activities and a presentation of project activities was given to apprise the team members.

The panel visited the adopted village and monitored the demonstrations on different cropping systems and other modules under the project.

Nearly 12 members of the Village Climate Risk Management Committee (VCRMC) constituted in the village by the KVK under the project and about 30 other farmers of the village also participated in the meeting.

Shimla, September 20
The six-day workshop on NABL Accreditation for Implementation of ISO:17025, a general requirement for laboratories for competence in testing, concluded at the state Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) at Junga, near here, today.

Home Secretary Maneesh Gargwas, who was the chief guest on the occasion, delivered the valedictory address to all officers of the FSL headquarters, Junga, and its regional offices at Mandi and Dharamsala.

SK Chaudhary, former Deputy Director General, Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS), was the resource person at the workshop. He made the officers familiar with record-keeping, documentation, infrastructure development, system management and general requirements for the NABL accreditation.

Dr Arun Sharma, Director, FSL, called upon the forensic experts to work with missionary zeal to develop it as a premier institute. In the modern era, the quality reports had a bearing on the criminal justice system and would be decisive to link the culprit to the crime and exonerate the innocent.

Kullu, September 20
Sanjay Kumar, Director General of Police (DGP), Himachal Pradesh, attended the annual sports day function of Kullu Valley School (KVS), as chief guest today. The function was held at the Police Ground at Bashing, 4 km from here. He lit the torch and took the salute from the march past by students and NSS unit of the school. Kullu SP Surinder Verma was the guest of honour.

Addressing the students, the DGP said sports boosted the physical and mental capabilities of children, so that they become responsible citizens, to serve the country and the mankind. He urged the students to adhere to the law of the land and obey the duties to develop a healthy society.

School Principal Sanjeev Bhardwaj thanked the chief guest and other dignitaries and read the school report and various achievements of the school and the students.

The DGP lauded the presentations by the students in the fields of sports and cultural items. Later, he distributed prizes among the winners and encouraged the children to take part in extra co-curricular activities.

Sundernagar, September 20
The state executive of the Himachal Pradesh State Electricity Board Ltd Junior Engineers and Additional Engineers Association held its meeting here today. About 150 representatives of the association, from various parts of the state, attended the meeting.

President of the association RD Agnihotri said it was decided in the meeting to take up the long-standing demands of the association with the management of the HPSEB and if the demands were not considered by the management, the members would start work on the pattern of “work to rule” ie from 9 am to 5 pm.

Representatives of the association raised their voice against an acute shortage of field staff due to which the lakhs of consumers were not getting quality service and the complaints were attended to after much delay.

The field staff was not getting the required material for the day-to-day mainataince of electrical system and whatever they were getting was not up to the mark. Also, there had been delay in the execution of Centrally sponsored schemes, the engineers added.

The association members also expressed unhappiness over the attitude of management of not granting pay scale at par with Punjab and not giving promotions to junior engineers.

RD Agnihotri, president of association, KS Guleria, general secretary, and Budhi Singh Thakur, vice-president of the association, were the main speakers during the meeting.

Una, September 20
The Una police have arrested a youth from Hamirpur district for allegedly possessing 20 kg poppy husk.

Superintendent of Police (SP) Anupam Sharma said accused Gurbachan Singh of Sohari village, under Badsar tehsil, who was travelling by his car (HP 21B 1279), was stopped at Basoli village by a police party. Upon checking, 50 pouches (400 gm each) of the contraband were recovered from the car.

The accused had been arrested under relevant sections of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, the SP said.