Shimla, September 21
While the state is in turmoil over fee hike by Himachal Pradesh University (HPU), educationists and students have questioned the rationale behind the steep hike in fee. They feel that the hike will deprive poor students access to higher education.

“There is no exemption in fee for poor and unless the students are categorised on the basis of their economic background and exemption is given to poor students, the objective of education for all will be defeated”, they opined.

Former Pro Vice-Chancellor of Himachal Pradesh University Prof NK Sharda said there was need to increase the fee but it should have been done in a phased manner and care should have been taken to ensure that poor students were not deprived of higher education.

Pointing out that girls students were exempted from paying tuition fees in the HPU, he said there was no such exemption for students from the poor economic background who were unable to pursue higher education due to enormous fee hike. He suggested that the university must provide for exemption and subsidy to BPL families and non-tax payers. Nominal fee should be charged from the students whose family income is below 3.5 lakh per annum.

HPU student Naveen, son of an Anganwari worker, said the government had made primary and elementary education free, but hiked the fees for higher education, discouraging the students from getting enrolled in colleges and university.

Another student Aarti said if the funds coming to the university were spent judicially for the welfare of students, the university would not have faced resource crunch.

Deputy Mayor of the Shimla Municipal Corporation Tikender Singh Panwar stressed that the HPU was a state-run university and abided by all directions of the government and as such it was its responsibility to provide liberal financial assistance to the university.

The state government should provide at least 50 per cent additional financial assistance to the university in the need of the hour.

Shimla, September 21
The Joint action Committee (JAC) comprising members of the SFI and the ABVP today gave a call for bandh in the HPU and its affiliated colleges from tomorrow.

Addressing a joint press conference, members of the ABVP and the SFI said indefinite “total education bandh” would be observed and rallies would be taken out from September 26.

The JAC also announced the names of members of the committee. They are state secretary Manish Sharma, Dinesh Mehta and Rahul Chauhan from the SFI and ABVP state secretary Ashish Sikta, Sunny Shukla and Navneet Kaushal.

The Himachal Pradesh Congress Committee (HPCC) has condemned the violence by students and assault on the Vice-Chancellor and urged students unions to resolve the matter through peaceful talks. Strict action should be initiated against students involved in violence, party spokesperson Naresh Chauhan said.

Palampur, September 21
Shanta Kumar, senior BJP leader and MP, today expressed concern over the continuous violence in Himahcal Pradesh University, Shimla. He said he was deeply hurt with the recent incidents in the university and lathicharge on students.

Addressing a news conference here yesterday, Shanta Kumar said the government should initiate efforts to restore academic atmosphere in the university. He said attack on the Vice-Chancellor by a group of students was deplorable and no one should be allowed to indulge in such illegal activities.

He asked Chief Minister Virbhadhra Singh to initiate dialogues with students so that unrest among the students come to an end and classes were started on the campus.

Shanta Kumar said he had always favoured resource mobilisation and the state government must make efforts to plug all loopholes but, at the same time, the state government must listen to students who had been opposing the fee hike.

Shanta said the financial health of the state had moved from bad to worse because of defective planning and policies of the governments, that ruled the state in the past 10 years. He said it was evident from the fact that the state government had been taking loans from the financial institutions every month to meet its daily expenditures.

He said if the state government was keen to come out from the financial bankruptcy, it should impose a drastic cut on its unwanted expenses and take austerity measures. This could be the only solution. Besides, the state government must follow the guidelines issued by the Centre to control its unplanned expenditures, restrict the foreign visits of officers, minister and MLAs.

He said since when Narendra Modi took over the reins of the country, he had initiated several austerity measures and imposed a ban on the foreign visits of minister, MPs and senior bureaucrats. Even the Prime Minister had not allowed its minister to purchase new cars. The Virbhadra Government should also follow it, he added.

Shimla, September 21
Former Chief Minister PK Dhumal has taken an exception to the reported decision of the government to exempt hydropower developers from taking no-objection certificates (NOCs) from public works, irrigation and public health, fisheries and revenue departments. He said this would be a big blow to the efforts of the government to maintain ecological balance and preserve the fragile hills.

In a letter addressed to Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh, Dhumal urged him to withdraw the decision as these conditions were imposed by the state and the Centre to ensure that hydropower development did not affect the ecology.

There was no confrontation between power developers and the departments concerned while preserving the environment.

“We are aware that saving fauna and flora and releasing 15 per cent water in the rivers downstream the dams are necessary for the survival of aquatic life. As such, no-objection certificate from the Fisheries Department has been made mandatory for power projects.”

Apprehending that the move of the government would bread corruption, Dhumal said instead of exempting independent power producers (IPPs) from obtaining NOCs, the government should ensure that there was no delay and correct data were made available and a time limit should be fixed for approving and rejecting any proposal.

Himachal has 25,000-mw hydropower potential and efforts are on to exploit the entire potential, but it should be done in a manner that neither the common people, nor the IPPs face any inconvenience, he added.

BJP spokesman Ganesh Dutt had also criticised the decision of the government to exempt IPPs from taking NOCs and said it would open the flood gates for corruption. The decision would lead to confrontation between IPPs and government departments leading to litigations and delays defeating the purpose of expeditious execution of hydropower projects.

Mandi, September 21
The completion of the ESIC Medical College and Hospital at the Ner Chowk near here has been delayed further. Reason: shortage of funds.

The 500-bed Employees’ State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) Medical College and Hospital was to be made operational in 2011 and the first batch of the MBBS course was to start from 2014-15 academic session. According to sources, 15 per cent of the construction work was still pending even after three years and it would take nearly another year to complete.

An official of Nagarjuna Construction Company, a private firm engaged in the construction work, said shortage of funds for the past few months had hampered the construction work.

Yashpal Sharma, treasurer, Nirman Kamgar Sangh, a labour union, said no construction work was going on at the hospital for the past several months. He said it would take another three years to make the hospital operational in case the work continued at this pace.

Sharma said workers had not been paid for the past two months and recently, contractors had gone on a four-day strike over the non-payment of their dues.

He said if workers were not paid by September 25, they would resort to strike. A senior official of the National Building Construction Corporation, an undertaking of the Union Ministry of Urban Development, which is monitoring the construction work of the hospital, said the work was delayed as 33,000 and 11,000 mw high tension wires passing over the piece of the land were removed in 2011 only.

He said cold weather conditions, floods, drainage problem during the monsoon and delay in the release of the funds were other reasons for the delay.

He said they were waiting for nearly Rs 60 crore to be released by the ESIC for the past some months.

He said a sum of nearly Rs 650 crore had already been spent on the project and they would hand over the building to the ESIC in 9-10 months. Corporation’s Chief Engineer in charge Sudeep Datta, over telephone from Delhi, said the construction work had been delayed due to some differences. He said now the differences had been sorted out and funds would be released soon.

The foundation stone of the 500-bed hospital was laid down by Union Labour and Employment Minister Oscar Fernandes and Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh in February 2009 just before the model code of conduct came into being for the Lok Sabha elections in March this year.

Shimla, September 21
The government will implement the ~600-crore Asian Development Bank (ADB)-assisted Infrastructure Development Investment Programme to give boost to tourism in the state.

The Christ Church on The Ridge in Shimla

The objective is to establish Himachal as a global brand in the domestic and international market and promote tourism to benefit host communities, support natural and cultural heritage preservation and create an enabling environment for investment in the tourism sector.

The focus will be on diversification of tourism to other potential areas to reduce pressure on the existing tourist destinations for which infrastructure will be created.

Projects worth ~210 crore were approved by the ADB under Tranche-1 and 20 projects for infrastructure development are being undertaken by the Department of Tourism and Civil Aviation in the districts of Shimla, Kangra, Una and Bilaspur, sources in Tourism Department said.

The major projects included restoration of Town Hall and beautification of the Mall Road in Shimla, Development of Tourist Reception Centre and parking at Chintpurni and development of jetty, camping sites, tracks and bird watching towers in the Pong Dam area.

The government has submitted a list of various tourist circuits/destinations projects worth ~26 crore to the Government of India for seeking financial assistance for developing tourist infrastructure.

These circuits proposed for funding from Union Government included ~5-crore project for the integrated development of Una-Nadaun as a tourist destination, ~8 crore for Buddhist destinations, ~8 crore for Shimla-suburbs and ~5 crore for tourist transit zones.

Stress on adventure tourism, religious tourism, heritage tourism, rural tourism or eco- tourism has helped in attracting more tourists to the state in the last few years.

As many as 1,51,29,835 tourists, including 4,14,249 foreigners, visited the state in 2013 while 1.61 crore tourists, including 5-lakh foreign tourists, visited in 2012. During the current year, 83 lakh tourists, including 1,93,387 international tourists, visited the state till June 30 this year.

Himachal has 2,377 registered hotels/guesthouses with the bed capacity of about 61,236.

In order to encourage entrepreneurs for setting up tourism units, the state government is providing incentive of 15 per cent Capital Investment Subsidy on tourism units subject to the maximum of Rs 50 lakh and the incentive scheme will be effective till March 31, 2017.

Further, new hotel units being set up in the tribal areas are exempted from luxury tax for 10 years from April 1, 2012, and similar incentives have been provided to the units being set up in backward panchayats.

Ropeways are being constructed in the public-private partnership (PPP) mode and sites of Chamundaji-Adi Himani Chamunda, Dharamsala-McLeodganj/Triund and Neugal-Palampur in Kangra, Shahtalai-Deotsidh in Hamirpur, Toba-Sri Naina Deviji in Bilaspur and Tutikandi-Lift-Mall Road, Shimla, in Shimla have been identified.

Major projects

• Restoration of Town Hall and beautification of the Mall Road in Shimla
• Development of Tourist Reception Centre
• Parking at Chintpurni
• Development of jetty, camping sites, tracks and bird watching towers at Pong Dam

Nurpur, September 21
Illegal mining on the Chakki riverbed is going on unabated in lower areas of Kangra district, posing a threat to the environment and spoiling hundreds of acres of fertile land.

Apart from this, the state exchequer too is losing royalty to the tune of crores of rupees every year. People of the upper Khanni gram panchayat have submitted a memorandum in this regard to the state government, through the local civic and police authorities, under the banner of the local unit of the Bhartiya Kisan Sangh.

They alleged that JCBs and stone crushers doing illegal mining on the Chakki riverbed had been playing havoc with agricultural land and a large number of water supply schemes had started drying up due to a fall in the underground water level.

In August last year, the National Green Tribunal (NGT) had imposed a blanket ban on carrying out any mining activity on the riverbed without procuring environment clearance, but inquiries revealed that most of the stone crushers had been set up in border areas of Nurpur subdivision without fulfilling this condition.

The government authorities have been allowing stone crushers to crush the existing stock, but most of the crushers are indulging in illegal mining on the Chakki riverbed, allegedly in connivance with the mining authorities.

The recent sealing of an unauthorised stone crushing unit in the Kandwal area, adjoining the Chakki riverbed, by a team of the district administration and the mining authorities has sent jitters to the mining mafia. The action for running an unauthorised crushing unit has also ruffled the BJP’s local rank and file as the authorities have sealed this unit pertaining to one of the office-bearers of Nurpur BJP district. It is also learnt that some crushers had also been imposed heavy penalties.

Sources in the state Industry Department said most of the stone-crushing units in Nurpur subdivision had been running without fulfilling mandatory conditions requisite for setting up a crusher.

Meanwhile, former MLA Rakesh Pathania alleged that the state government was sleeping over mining on the Chhaki riverbed in the area despite a blanket ban imposed by the state High Court and the NGT.

He has demanded a CBI inquiry into the alleged rampant illegal mining and running of unauthorised stone crushers in the Kandwal, Hagwal and Damtal areas in lower Kangra district. He alleged the mining mafia had flourished in this region due to its nexus with some political leaders and the department authorities.

Additional District Magistrate, Kangra, Rakesh Sharma, who recently had led an inspection team to check illegal mining, admitted that he had directed the mining authorities to close four crushers in the Kandwal area and lodge an FIR in connection with an extensive mining in the Mazra area bordering Punjab. The report in this regard is still being awaited.

Shimla, September 21
A three-member Pakistani delegation of water expert headed by Indus Waters Commissioner Mirza Asif Beg reached Manali today to inspect the 120-MW Miyar hydropower project near Udaipur in Lahaul-Spiti district.

The delegation will visit the project tomorrow, Regional Director, Central Water Commission P Dorje Gyamba, who is accompanying the team, said.

The Indian team accompanying the Pakistani delegation included Indus Water Commissioner K Vohra and senior joint commissioner PK Saxena.

The project is being commissioned by private firm Moser Baer in the Miyar Valley on a tributary of the Chandrabhaga river.

The Indus Waters Treaty was signed in 1960 with the support of the World Bank to settle water issues between the two neighbouring countries provided that India and Pakistan can inspect sites of development works such as projects or dams to check that no diversion has been created to the river flow, which could deny the unhindered flow.

Official sources said the purpose of the Pakistani team’s visit was to ascertain whether any diversion had been made in the original flow of the Chandrabhaga, which later entered Jammu and Kashmir and merges into the Chenab.

“We are hopeful that India will show some flexibility on (Pakistan’s) reservations over the building of new dams in India,” Pakistan-based daily Express Tribune said, quoting Baig. During the five-day trip, the delegation will also visit four “controversial sites” on the Chenab river where New Delhi is planning to construct new dams, said the paper.

Reiterating that Pakistan’s objections over the design of the Kishanganga dam were logical, Baig told the daily that some serious doubts pertaining to the controversial project - particularly regarding the Neelum distributary point - and other dams on the Chenab have already been allayed.

Kangra, September 21
The government has disbursed Rs 14 crore for the development of infrastructure in Rajeev Gandhi Govt Engineering College at Nagrota Bagwan while Rs 6 crore was already disbursed for the construction of the college building.

Technical Education, Transport and Food and Civil Supplies Minister GS Bali said in view of the increasing number of students in the college, the PWD had been directed to complete the works soon.

He said the land for HRTC depot at Nagrota Bagwan has been identified and the case to grant a permission from the government for acquiring this land was submitted.

He said to expedite work on Mallan Mubarkpur highway, directions to the authorities had been issued.

He said the HRTC would add 750 buses in its fleet through the JNNURM.

He said the Kangra District Grievances Committee meeting scheduled to be held on September 23 and to be chaired by him was postponed to September 24 in view of the Cabinet meeting on September 23. He said the DGC meeting would be held on September 24 in the Zila Parsid Hall at Dharamsala at 11am.

Mandi, September 21
Mandi BJP MP Ramswaroop Sharma said he had met Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari and urged him to speed up the work on the four-laning of the Kiratpur-Manali road.

He was addressing a programme organised to felicitate booth representatives where the party had secured more than 60 per cent votes in the recent Lok Sabha elections in the Sadar Assembly constituency. Twenty persons were honoured here today.

The MP said money had also been sanctioned for the maintenance of the Chandigarh-Manali National Highway-21 and work on the Rohtang tunnel would also be speeded up.Sharma said he had also met the Union Railway Minister over the provision of the budget for the Bilaspur-Mandi-Manali-Leh railway line.

Seraj MLA Jai Ram Thakur, district BJP president Jawahar Thakur, Sadar block president DD Thakur, state general secretary Pawan Rana and other party workers were present.

Mandi, September 21
The five-day Mandi Mahotsav has started here. The event is being organised by the Samvad Yuva Mandal, a cultural organisation.

The programme was inaugurated by Mandi Municipal Council Executive Officer Ajay Prashar last evening.

In the junior category, the first round for a singing completion, the Soul of Mandi, was also organised. Mandal president Gaurav Sharma said Banthara (folk theatre), fashion show, choreography and several other cultural programmes would be held in the next four days.

Shimla, September 21
Female teachers of government colleges from different parts of Himchal Pradesh accompanying women kabaddi teams participating in the inter-college kabaddi competition at Theog, 32 km from here, had a harrowing time as the organisers did not make proper arrangements for their “safe” stay.

The teachers alleged that the Government College, Theog, which hosted the event, had made no arrangements for them and they were asked to stay with students on the college premises.

One of the teachers said, when they asked for accommodation, college authorities provided them bedding and opened the music room, but when they refused to stay there, they were accommodated at a local resident’s house.

The five teachers had come from Bilaspur, Jhukhala, Nerva, Dharamsala and Suni and were asked to make their own arrangements the next day. The organisers suggested a hotel and five teachers took two rooms, but faced the worst in the hotel.

On September 19 night, the teachers suddenly came to know that three persons were drinking in the adjacent room. After some time they advanced towards them in an inebriated state. When the teachers spurned their advances, they used abusive language and banged the door at 10pm.

The frightened teachers called the manager, but he too took the matter lightly and merely assured that they were safe in their rooms. He did not take any step to reassure them, they said.

Finally the teachers called up the organisers, who immediately came and reported the matter to the police. They also alleged that the police team that reached the hotel had no woman constable and by the time the complaint was lodged, two of the accused had already left.

“We could have been molested, anything could have happened to us. The grills of the bathroom were also broken,” the shocked teachers said. They also complained that no male teacher was accompanying the teams and the safety of the players as well as the teachers escorting them was at stake. The event organisers were not available for any comment.

Shimla, September 21
Women in the state are growing more vulnerable to crime. The largest district, Kangra, with sex ratio of 1,012, has registered an increase in crime against women. As many as 434 cases, including those of rape, cruelty against women and molestation (excluding dowry deaths), were reported in Kangra district in the past three years (2011-2013), while 114 cases were registered till August 31 during the current year.

From 2011 to 2013, the district reported 91 cases of rape, 138 cases of cruelty to women and 205 cases of molestation, while the number during the present year stood at 30, 27 and 47, respectively.

The situation is no better in the adjoining district of Mandi, where 368 cases of crime against women, including 85 cases of rape, 106 cases of cruelty against women and 177 cases of molestation were registered, while the number of these cases was 127 during the first eight months this year. These included 34 cases of rape, 28 case of cruelty against women and 65 cases of molestation.

While the tribal district of Lahaul and Spiti is the safest, with lowest rate of five cases of crime against women, including one rape case and four molestation cases, the adjoining district of Kinnaur registered 41 cases of crime against women in the past three years, including 18 cases of rape, 10 cases of cruelty to women and 13 cases of molestation while seven cases of rape and four cases each of cruelty to women and molestation have been registered in the district this year.

There was no case of crime against women in Lahaul and Spiti during 2014 and the silver lining is that the number of dowry cases in the state is negligible and only six cases were reported during 2011 to 2013, while two cases have been registered in the current year in the entire state.

As many as 281 cases, which included 77 cases of rape, 68 cases of cruelty to women and 136 of of crime against women were registered in Shimla in the past three years and while the number was 78 this year.

DGP Sanjay Kumar said Kangra being the most populous district of the state, sharing boundary with Punjab, criminal influence from the neighbouring state cannot be ruled out. Another reason for increase in crime against women was that a large number of men were serving outside the state.

Moreover, there was more awareness among the masses, who came forward to report the atrocities. Referring to the 190 rape cases registered in the first eight months this year, the DGP said in more than 93 per cent cases, the accused were known to the victims.

To check crime against women, an all-women police station had been set up in Shimla while two more had been sanctioned for Kangra and Mandi districts, he added.

Una, September 21
The Swan River Federation, an umbrella organisation for 6,120 rural women who are members of 425 self-help groups in 50 panchayats of the district, has decided to distribute kitchen garden seed kits to all its members.

Federation chairperson Subhadra Devi today said the step had the twin objective of utilising the kitchen discards as well as providing the family with good nourishment.

She said the federation was working towards the overall empowerment of women.

Federation vice-chairperson Anuranjana said it was decided to procure nine varieties of vegetable seeds which were suitable for being sown in the Rabi season.

“In an effort to weed out the middlemen, we directly contacted the Vegetable Science Division of the Indian Council for Agriculture Research, New Delhi, and they provided us with good quality certified seeds from the Pusa Institute”, she said.

The seed varieties included mustard, turnip, radish, spinach, coriander, tomato, carrot and fenugreek.

“We have got in contact with the Indian Diary Research Institute for good quality Barseem seeds suitable for this area”, Anuranjana said.

Nurpur, September 21
The process to set up Lok Mitra Kendras (LMKs) in Kangra district in the Public Private Partnership model under the national e-governance plan was launched with much fanfare five years ago. But they are hardly able to deliver requisite services now and are being shut.

The state Information and Technology Department had entrusted this responsibility to a private company Zoom Developers Private Limited. In the Nurpur area unemployed youth had opted for these LMKs with a hope that they would get self-employment opportunities. But their hopes were dashed within a short period. They availed bank loans and are now closing their LMKs as these are being considered financially non-viable.

As many as a dozen LMKs opened by local unemployed youth have failed to deliver services in rural areas here.

Inquiries revealed that these LMKs opened here two or three years ago had been providing the facility of payment of electricity, water, telephone, mobile bills and procurement of land record copies, HRTC’s long-route journey tickets, PAN and Aadhaar cards to the people. With the functioning of these kendras people did not have to wait in queues or go to government offices for petty jobs. But owing to meagre commission and more overhead expenses, these LMKs have started closing in this area.

Viney Kumar of Nurpur, Ajay from Ganoh, Surinder from Thohra lamented that they had raised bank loans to start their LMKs in rented shops.

“The private company Zoom Developers from where we had taken franchises to run these LMKs took Rs 30,000 as security, but didn’t impart any training to entrepreneurs. It has now refused to refund our money and we have decided to close these LMKs,” they expressed.

Dheeraj Kumar, in-charge of Zoom Developers for Kangra, Chamba and Una district, said the complaints of the non-functioning of LMKs had been received only from Nurpur and Nagrota Surian development blocks, whereas these were working successfully in all other 25 blocks of the districts.

He said those who had taken franchise of LMKs here were disinterested in working for earning through these kendras.

Chamba, September 21
RK Sharma, District and Sessions Judge, Chamba, urged the public to not indulge in unnecessary quarrel, which takes them to court and wastes time and money.

He stated this while presiding over a legal literacy camp held at Byana panchayat ghar, Surangani, in Chamba district today. He also advised people to try and sort out property matters with mutual understanding and reconciliation.

Though the camps, legal awareness was being brought about among the public so that no one remained deprived of justice.

He appealed to the people to fight against corruption and work for the development schemes of their panchayats devotedly.

Chief Judicial Magistrate Aparna Sharma talked about various acts such as the Right to Information, Right to Education and eradication of social evils like dowry and child marriages etc.

Shimla, September 21
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 the 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.

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.

The ZMC appreciated the knowledge and participation level of the VCRMC and other farmers in the project planning and implementation. The unique feature of this project is the establishment of a Custom Hiring Centre in the village, where different farm tools and other inputs have been kept for utilisation by farmers on paying minimal charges.

Una, September 21
The Kutlehar block unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) today sent a truck load of relief material to Jammu and Kashmir for the flood victims. Virender Kanwar, BJP MLA from Kutlehar, said the material included a tonne of wheat flour, 45 quintal rice, three quintal pulses and 200 pairs of clothing, besides blankets.

He said the people of Kutlehar had always come forward to help humanity in need. District party president Balbir Bagga and other officer bearers were also present.

Palampur, September 21
Dr KK Katoch, Vice-Chancellor, CSK Himachal Pradesh Agriculture University (HPAU), underlined the importance of basic science in research and applied sciences and said its development brought economic prosperity.

Dr Katoch was presiding over as chief guest in the graduate segment convocation of the College of Basic Sciences.

He said the attention of students should be drawn towards sciences with an assurance of a career. “There has been more use of modern biology and chemistry techniques in crop breeding, mineral nutrition, chemical analysis of soil, plant and various agricultural products. The importance of basic sciences has also been realised by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) and a decision has been taken to allow the graduates from basic science stream to get admission in masters programme in agricultural sciences”, he added.

Dr Katoch advocated the transfer of knowledge into innovations providing economic or social values. The university was making impressive strides in providing innovation and technology-led growth in the region while creating better access to higher education right in rural areas, he claimed.

The university had been assessed by SWISO India Pvt Ltd for quality management system and it was found that the design, delivery and assessment of teaching, research, extension and consultancy services in the area of agriculture, veterinary and animal sciences, home science, basic sciences and allied sectors were in accordance with the requirement of quality of ISO 9001: 2008 standard, he said.

The Vice-Chancellor conferred 333 degrees, while 207 students received their degrees in person. He also presented seven gold medals and 46 certificates of honour.

Rattan Gautam, HAS, Registrar, led the convocation procession and conducted the proceedings of the convocation.

Dr Kamlesh Singh, Dean, College of Basic Sciences, while presenting the achievements, said since the inception of the college, 597 students had earned their degrees in under-graduate and 232 in post-graduate programmes in the college. Presently, 270 undergraduates and 22 postgraduate students were continuing their studies in the college.

Members of the university senate, board of management, academic council, aculty, parents of degree recipients and some officials of the local administration attended the occasion.

Nurpur, September 21
The four-day youth festival concluded at Ram Singh Postgraduate Government College, Dehri, yesterday. About 450 students of 69 government colleges from across the state took part in various competitions.

The competitions of cartoon making, declamation, speech, quiz, poster making, painting, rangoli and modeling were organised during the event.

The valedictory function was presided over by Onkar Sharma, Divisional Commissioner, Kangra, as the chief guest. He exhorted students to take part in extra-curricular activities and play a pivotal role in the eradication of addiction and drug abuse in the society. Later, he gave away prizes to the winners of the competitions.

The results of the competitions were as follows:

Declamation contest: Deepak Sharma, Virender Sharma and Neha Chouhan were declared first, second and third respectively.

Cartoon making: Vikrant, Kamini and Suraj stood first, second and third.

Speech competition: The first three positions were won by Pankaj, Priya and Shivali

Modeling: Devinder, Akshay and Kuldeep bagged the first three positions

Poster making: Sheetal, Anchal and Deep bagged the first, second and third positions. Quiz: Adham, Ashok and Dinesh were declared first and Surinder, Vijay and Manoj were adjudged second.

On-the-spot painting: Deepak, Prateek and Akshay were adjudged first, second and third.

Rangoli competition: Roji, Arun and Sunaina won the first three positions.

Una, September 21
The 11th State-Level Yoga Championship came to a close today at the Radha-Krishna Temple in Kotla Kalan village near Una town. The two-day championship was organised by the State Yoga Association. More than 350 participants from 10 districts of the state performed at the competition.

In the 8-11 year boys group, Chandan Bhattacharya and Abhay from Solan bagged the first prize, while Deepak from Shimla and Lakhwinder from Solan got the second place. The third place was won by Veerpal Singh from Sirmour and Suraj Sharma from Solan.

All six positions in the girls’ 8-11 year age group went in favour of Solan district with the winners of first three slots being Komal and Khushi, Anchal and Reshma, Simran and Yashika, respectively.

In the boys 11-14 year age group, Nikhil from Solan and Anuj from Shimla got the first prize, while in the girls’ category, Anchal Bhattacherya from Solan and Jyoti from Una got the first prize.

Acharya Mahender Sharma, president of the State Yoga Association, said the objective of the competitions was to spread awareness about yoga, the ancient Indian system of good health and well being. He said in present times of mental stress, yoga was a natural remedy.

Nurpur, September 21
A team of the Special Investigation Unit (SIU) of the Kangra police arrested Kishor of Ghagni Parel (Chamba) from Tissa in Chamba district yon Friday.

He was declared a proclaimed offender (PO) by the Nurpur court on June 6 this year as he failed to appear in the prosecution hearings of the court. The local police had registered a theft case under Section 379 of the IPC against Kishor.

Nurpur DSP Manoj Joshi said the accused was produced in the court and remanded in judicial custody till September 24. He said following a tip-off, the SIU team, led by Assistant Sub-Inspector Ratan Chand, had conducted a raid at Tissa and nabbed the PO.

Una, September 21
The Una police arrested six migrants from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar along with stolen material from the Tahliwal industrial area late last night.

DSP (Headquarters) Surinder Sharma said a special investigating unit (SIU), which had been constituted in view of the increasing incidents of theft in the area, was on patrol when they spotted six persons trying to load a heavy roll of copper wire on a motorcycle.

When inquired, the men failed to give satisfactory replies and the police took them for interrogation. The accused, namely Nasir Ahmed, Mohammad Ahmed, Salim Mukhtiar and Babloo, residents of Bareli, Nanhu, resident of Badayun in Uttar Pradesh and Sikender Raj, resident of Katihar in Bihar, have confessed to have been involved in a number of thefts in the area, he added.

The DSP said all the six accused have been arrested and their motorcycle (HP 72A 6490), has been impounded.