Shimla, September 25
Owners of unauthorised structures in the core, restricted and green areas here can be denied the benefit of the one-time relaxation in getting their unauthorised buildings regularised as the Cabinet is likely to exempt these areas from the benefit.

There has been a rethink on the issue with criticism mounting over giving a free run to violators by issuing an Ordinance to amend the Town and Country Planning (TCP) Act so that over 25,00 structures could be regularised.

On September 6, the department issued an Ordinance for amendments to the TCP Act to pave the way for regularisation of the unauthorised structures.

Though the fee for the core area in Shimla was to be charged at 200 per cent of the regularisation fee and 150 per cent for the restricted area, there was criticism that such concessions amount to encouraging violators.

“We have had a rethink on it and the Cabinet will exclude these areas falling in Shimla as we cannot allow such blatant violations of the norms,” confirmed Sudhir Sharma, Town and Country Planning Minister.

There have been instances where some house owners have swung into action and started construction illegally in the hope that these would be regularised. The move is being viewed as an attempt to discourage such people.

Though there was no mention of green areas in the Ordinance, if there have been any violations, these will not qualify under this concession.

The issue of regularising 25,000 structures had been hanging fire since long but now the issue is settled. Though the TCP Department has brought in five retention policies, with the government itself filing an affidavit that it will not bring in any new retention policy, the only wayout to regularise these structures is by way of bringing in an amendment to the TCP Act.

On the recommendations of the Select Committee of the Vidhan Sabha, the government had decided to provide relief to these house owners. It was felt that their status of being unauthorised needed to be settled which was possible only by way of an amendment to the Act. 

Hamirpur, September 25
Former Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal today credited the relentless efforts of dedicated party workers at the grassroots level for the impressive win of the BJP in the Lok Sabha elections.

He was addressing party workers at a function organised by the state BJP to honour best polling booths of the state, at Baroha today.

He said it was for the first time that the BJP had managed to win all the four parliamentary seats in the state.

“Everyone, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, firmly believes that had it not been for the zeal and sincerity with which the party workers campaigned, BJP could not have achieved this impressive victory,” he remarked.

While three Lok Sabha MPs- Anurag Thakur, Virender Kashyap and Ram Swaroop were present, Kangra MP and former Chief Minister Shanta Kumar was conspicuous by his absence.

State president Satpal Singh Satti said the landslide victory in Lok Sabha elections was achieved after party sacrificed six generations in the service of the nation. All leaders and workers should follow the teachings of Late Pt Deen Dyal Upadhya, Dr Shyama Prasad Mukharji and Atal Bihari Vajpayi, he added.

Dhumal honoured 71 polling booths from four parliamentary constituencies that had secured more than 80 per cent of the polled votes in favour of BJP. Talla polling booth of Kangra segment topped the list by securing 95.34 per cent votes, Sameerpur of Bhoranj segment was at the second position with 93.90 per cent and Chont of Jwalamukhi at third position with 92.39 per cent of the polled votes.

Hamirpur MP Anurag Thakur announced a sum of Rs 5 lakh to all 11 polling booths of his constituency that secured more than 80 per cent of polled votes. Party workers should be prepared for the coming panchyati raj elections, which will pave the way for victory of BJP in the next Assembly elections, he added.

He said Modi had decided to get support from Germany for skill development of the youth of the country. There were 11 crore unemployed youth in the country and they could only be employed if they were skilled to work as per industry requirement, Anurag said.

Solan, September 25
A committee formed by the National Green Tribunal (NGT) to inspect Baddi-Barotiwala-Nalagarh areas inspected various sites and took stock of pollution-related problems today.

The committee comprised DC, Solan, Member Secretaries of the Central and State Pollution Control Boards, chief engineer IPH, Deputy CEO of Baddi Barotiwala Nalagarh Industrial Development Authority and other officials of the State Pollution Control Board.

The team will prepare a report on the actual pollution levels, compliance of emission standards and other issues pertaining to water pollution. They inspected various sites, including places where fly ash was being dumped by various industries to find if requisite norms were being followed.

Various pharmaceutical units, a battery manufacturing unit, paper unit, etc., whose pollution-related complaints had figured in the petition before the NGT were also inspected and three samples of Sirsa river were also lifted to assess its pollution level.

The team also inspected a common effluent treatment plant which is being set up at Malpur village at a cost of Rs 65 crore.

The petitioner had alleged that not only was the sludge of the industrial units being dumped callously on roadsides, but Sirsa river had also been converted into a drain of various industrial effluents.

The committee which is on a two-day visit would again inspect the remaining areas tomorrow and prepare a report which is supposed to be submitted before the NGT. Municipal and solid-waste dumping sites were also visited by the team to assess if they functioned appropriately or failed to dispose the waste effectively as had been alleged by the petitioner.

Mandi, September 25
A target has been set to establish solid and water waste management units in all 473 panchayats of the district by 2019, said Rural Development Minister Anil Sharma, while launching the Swachh Panchayat Week and Rashtriya Swachhta Abhiyan under the Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan here today.

He said in the first year, 50 panchayats of the distict would be selected for establishing waste management units. He said under Swachh Panchayat Week, several awareness programmes would be organised and vermin-compost units would be set up in every households for better management of the solid waste.

Shimla, September 25
In a major reshuffle, the HP High Court today transferred 38 judicial officers of the state judiciary. As per notification issued by the High Court, DK Sharma, District and Sessions Judge (D&SJ), Kangra at Dharamsala, has been transferred and posted as such at Solan.

SL Sharma, D&SJ, Solan, has been transferred to Dharamsala. Virender Singh, Member Secretary, HP State Legal Services Authority, will be the new D&SJ, Shimla. SC Kainthla, D&SJ, Mandi, has been transferred and posted as Presiding Officer, Labour Court, Kangra at Dharamshala. JK Sharma, Presiding Officer, Labour Court, Dharamshala, has been transferred and posted as D&SJ, Nahan.

Baldev Singh, D&SJ, Nahan, has been transferred to Mandi and Purender Vaidya, D&SJ, Kullu, to Rampur.

Virender Sharma, D&SJ, Rampur, will be the new D&SJ of Kullu. Yashwant Singh, Registrar (Judicial), High Court, has been transferred and posted as Member Secretary, HP State Legal Services Authority, Shimla.

Rajinder Kumar Sharma, Additional District and Sessions Judge (AD&SJ), Nahan, has been transferred and posted as District and Sessions Judge (Forest), Shimla. RK Chaudhary, AD&SJ (I), Una, has been transferred and his services are placed at the disposal of the Chief Justice, for being posted in the registry of the High Court.

KK Sharma, AD&SJ (I), Kangra at Dharamshala, has been transferred and posted as president, District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum, Mandi. Mukesh Bansal, AD&SJ (II), Una, has been transferred to Una as AD&SJ (I) and Davinder Kumar, AD&SJ (II), Kangra at Dharamshala, posted to Dharamsala as AD&SJ (I).

Pune Ram, AD&SJ, Chamba, has been transferred and posted as Special Secretary (Law) to the state government. Rajeev Bali, AD&SJ (III), Kangra at Dharamsala, has been given the charge of AD&SJ (II), Dharamsala. Vikas Bhardwaj, AD&SJ (newly appointed), has been posted at Una. Whereas Bhuvnesh Awasthi, AD&SJ (newly appointed), has been posted at Nahan.

Jaswant Singh, Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM), Kangra at Dharamsala, on his promotion as AD&SJ has been transferred and posted as AD&SJ, Chamba. Jyosna S Dadwal, CJM, Shimla, on her promotion as AD&SJ has been posted as AD&SJ (III), Kangra at Dharamsala.

Madan Kumar, Additional Secretary (Law), has been transferred and posted as CJM, Shimla. Barinder Thakur, CJM, Kullu, has been transferred to Dharamsala. Ranjeet Singh, CJM, Lahual & Spiti, has been transferred to Una. Parveen Chauhan, CJM, Una, has been posted at Kullu.

Rajesh Chauhan, ACJM, Una, has been transferred to CJM, Lahaul & Spiti at Kullu. While Gaurav Mahajan, ACJM, Kasauli, has been transferred to Rampur. Sapna Pandey, ACJM, Rampur, has been transferred to Kasauli. Subhash Chander Bhasin, Judicial Magistarte First Class (1), Solan, has been transferred to Karsog. While Mohit Bansal, JMIC, Chachiot at Gohar, has been transferred to Chopal.

Nitin Mittal, JMIC, Chopal, has been transferred to Chamba. Amardeep Singh, JMIC, Chamba, has been transferred to Baijnath. Neha Kaisth, JMIC, Nahan, has been transferred to court No. (II) at Kasauli. Vijay Lakshmi, JMIC (II), Kasauli, has been transferred to Bilaspur.

Surya Prakash, JMIC, Karsog, has been transferred to Chachiot at Gohar. Manisha Goyal, JMIC, Baijnath, has been transferred to Nahan. Upasana Sharma, JMIC, Kandaghat, has been transferred to court No. (I), Solan. Gitika Kapila, JMIC (III), Mandi, has been transferred to Kandaghat. Anita Sharma, JMIC, Bilaspur, has been transferred to court No. (III) Mandi.

Shimla, September 25
The shortage of IAS officers in the state is likely to worsen in the coming days with six bureaucrats heading for a Centre deputation while many more are eagerly awaiting to get the nod of the state government on their plea to move out.

What is even worse is that the shortage will be felt more at the senior-secretary level, where there is already shortage of officers.

With the cadre strength of 147, the state is left with only 69 IAS officers, with 24 already serving in the Centre and some of them seeking extension of their stay in Delhi and in international agencies.

Ali Raza Rizvi will shortly join as the Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, while Bharat Khera will serve in the Ministry of Defence Production.

The state government has accepted the plea of Sanjay Murthy, Principal Secretary, Food and Civil Supplies Department, to move to Delhi on a Central deputation.

Vineet Chawdhry and Upma Chawdhry, both Additional Chief Secretaries (ACS) and looking after Health and Family Welfare and Language, Art and Culture, respectively, too are keen to proceed on a Central deputation.

“Their request has already been turned down by the state government, but they are likely to make a fresh plea so that they can move to Delhi,” an official said.

Even as the request of some senior officers has been turned down, two other IAS officers — Amandeep Garg and Manish Garg — have made a request to the state government that they be allowed to move on a Central deputation.

RD Nazeem, Director, Energy, is also proceeding on a Central deputation as his name has been cleared both by the state as well as the Centre.

The cadre strength of Himachal was enhanced by almost a dozen about two years ago, but even now, the state is facing acute shortage.

This has led to some officers looking after four to five departments each. Though some senior bureaucrats, perceived close to the previous regime, are virtually cooling their heels with practically no work, there are others, who are over-burdened.

Efforts by the state government to get IAS officers hailing from Himachal who have been allotted other cadres to serve on a home state deputation also did not yield the result. The request by the state government to all others states was turned down on the plea that they too were not in a position to spare officers.

Mandi/ Dalhousie, September 25
As many as four people died in two separate mishaps that occurred in the state in the past 24 hours. Three persons feared drowned, while two managed to escape when their Innova MUV plunged into the Beas river near Jhiri village in Mandi on the National Highway-21 today.

Superintendent of Police (SP) Mohit Chawla said five people were in the vehicle and two managed to swim to safety.

He said the vehicle, which was on its way from Manali to Baijnath, fell into the river after hitting a truck.

He said rafters had been called to trace the missing persons. The vehicle had gone down deep into the river and efforts were on to take it out, the SP added.

One dies, four hurt in Chamba

The driver of the vehicle was killed on the spot and four others injured when their Alto car, in which they were on their way to Sundernagar from Chamba, went out of control and collided with a parapet near Hatli last night.

DK Chaudhary, Superintendent of Police, Chamba, said here today that the deceased had been identified as Khakhinder Singh, the car driver, while other injured, including Vikas, Rohit, Manjeet and Akhil, had been brought to a nearby Shahpur hospital in Kangra district for undergoing medical treatment, the SP said.

The mishap occurred due to the negligence of the driver. However, a case to investigate the incident was registered by the police, the SP said.

Una, September 25
Kuldip Kumar, Chintpurni MLA and Chairman of the State Finance Commission, inaugurated a one-day agriculture fair at Talmehra panchayat here yesterday. The fair was organised by the Agriculture Technology Management Agency and the Agriculture Department.

Speaking on the occasion, the MLA urged farmers to diversify into new crops and adopt newer techniques in farming.

He said an area of 32,000 sq mtr had been brought under poly houses in the Bangana block. This would boost the vegetable cultivation and floriculture in the district. Farmers would also be benefited by the ongoing Swan river embankment works, he added.

Earlier, HS Rana, deputy director of the District Agriculture Department, informed the farmers about the schemes of the department. Among others, Zila Parishad member Satya Devi was also present on the occasion. 

Chamba, September 25
The district unit of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPM) has condemned the ‘anti-student attitude’ of the Himachal Pradesh University administration and the government for increasing the fee structure.

In a press release issued here today, CPM district secretary Sudesh Thakur sought the withdrawal of the decision with regard to the fee hike forthwith.

Supporting the ongoing agitation of students, she said the state government had violated the democratic rights of students by banning the direct elections of the Central Students Association (CSA).

She said the implementation of the Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA) without any preparation had created several problems.

Kullu, September 25
MLA Maheshwar Singh and Deputy Commissioner (DC) Rakesh Kanwar, along with students and staff members of Government Senior Secondary School, Sultanpur, launched a special cleanliness drive under the Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan near here today.

During his address, the DC appealed to the students to maintain cleanliness and hygiene on the school premises and the adjoining areas. He said the cooperation of masses was a must to maintain cleanliness. Awareness camps were being organised to ensure residents’ participation in the cleanliness movement. He directed the municipal committee authorities to maintain cleanliness in and around public institutes and apprise residents of the door-to-door garbage collection scheme.

Chamba: To make the public aware of cleanliness, various programmes will be organised in the district during Cleanliness Week being observed under the Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan. The cleanliness week will conclude on October 2.

To finalise programmes regarding the drive, a meeting of the district water and cleanliness committee was held under the chairpersonship of Deputy Commissioner (DC) M Sudha Devi here today.

She said different programmes for each day during the drive had been outlined, adding that on September 27, sanitation in all schools and anganwari kendras would be ensured in the district.

Those doing an outstanding work during the cleanliness drive would be awarded, the DC said.

Una: With a view to spreading awareness about the cleanliness week, which is being observed in the state from September 25 to October 2, Deputy Commissioner (DC) Abhishek Jain flagged off a rally organised by school students at the municipal park here today. The cleanliness week is being observed on the theme of ‘Towards a Nirmal State’.

Speaking on the occasion, the DC said the salient features of the campaign would be convergence between health and sanitation issues.

Besides, a special drive for promoting health check-ups, ensuring clean and hygienic conditions in rural areas, propagating the construction and use of toilets by cent per cent population and generating awareness among mothers regarding the safe disposal of child faeces would also be held. 

Shimla, September 25
The postponement of Himachal Pradesh University’s (HPU) Executive Council (EC) meeting slated for today came as a setback to non-teaching employees, who were awaiting a decision on their long-pending demands.

The meeting was postponed citing administrative reasons.

After the expiry of the term of elected representative of non-teaching employees Chaudhry Waryam Singh Bains today, there would be no elected representation of students and teachers and non-teaching employees in the EC and employees were apprehensive that important issues regarding non-teaching employees would now be discussed in the absence of their representative and possibility of the EC taking some arbitrary decisions was not being ruled out.

The demands related to pay of university employees at par with those in the secretariat, pension payment order were the part of today’s agenda and sealed envelopes on the recommendations of recruitment and promotion were also to be opened at today’s meeting.

With the formation of a high-level committee with retired High Court judge as its chairperson to look into fee-hike and other issues and give a report in a month, the issue regarding SCA elections and fee hike were not to be discussed in the meeting, sources in the university said.

Meanwhile, the Joint Action Committee (JAC) comprising SFI and ABVP activists today said students from all over the state would join the massive rally and march to the state secretariat tomorrow in support of the demand of rollback in the fee structure and restore Students’ Central Association (SCA) elections.

SFI state secretary Manish Sharma has accused the Chief minister and HPU Vice-Chancellor of giving misleading and irresponsible statements. He said there was no free education for girls in Himachal and only tuition fees was waived off, while all other charges were born by girls studying in the university.

Alleging that “dictatorship in the name of democracy” was prevailing in the university, students said the resignation of president, secretary and joint secretary from the posts of office-bearers minutes after the nomination to the SCA in support of students’ agitation is a visible proof that students were forced to become the office-bearers.

However, the university authorities said as per the provision, next students with highest merit would be nominated as office-bearers.

Panel to look into girl’s allegations

A high level committee was constituted under the chairmanship of Pro Vice-Chancellor RS Chauhan with Dean Students’ welfare, Chief Warden, Prof Mamta Mokta and Ranbir Verma as its members. The members will look into the allegations of police atrocities during lathicharge on students by a girl student on the HPU campus on September 19. 

Kangra, September 25
Durga Pooja and Ashwin Navratri started with religious gaiety and fervour today in the Kangra temple town, the seat of one of the 52 shakti peeths Bajjreshwari. The temples were humming with a large number of devotees, who paid obeisance on the first day of the pooja.

A devotee pays obeisance before the idol of Mahishasur Mardini at Tara Mandir in Kangra on Thursday. Photo: Ashok Raina

The Survojonin Durga Puja, which entered into the consecutive 47th year of its inception, started today at Tara Devi Mandir, Ghurkari, in the outskirts of the town.

The festival would conclude on October 3, with the immersion of Durga idols in Banner Khad.

Samuel Paul, a renowned artist from Shanti Niketan, Kolkata, completed the idols of Goddess Mahishasur Mardini, Laxmi, Saraswati, Kartik and Ganesh as per traditions today, before it was installed in the temple.

Swami A S Bramchari, mahant of Tara Mandir, said, “Durga, the symbol of strength, will be worshiped in the temple from today till October 3, 2014.”

The chief deity Mahishasur Mardini and others divinities would be invited on September 30, the 6th day of the Navratri Parva, he said.

This was the second oldest Durga Puja of the state after the famous 103-year-old Kalibari Puja at Shimla.

Kangra SDM Ajit Bhardwaj said sanitation, health and security arrangements were made to carry on the festivities smoothly.

Police officials said dog squads and the bomb disposal squads too were kept in readiness in all the three temple towns of Jwalamukhi, Kangra and Chamunda to avoid any untoward incident during the festival. 

Kullu, September 25
A legal awareness camp was organised by the District Legal Services Authority at the hall of the truck operators’ union in Akhara Bazar here today.

Chief Judicial Magistrate, Kullu, Barinder Thakur presided over the camp. Ravinder Rana spoke on the Domestic Violence Act. Ramesh Thakur apprised residents of the Motor Vehicles Act. Alok Parmar delineated on the fundamental rights and duties while senior advocate Shyam Singh Thakur gave a detailed description of the Consumer Protection Act.

Barinder Thakur, CJM-cum-Chairman of the Sub-divisional Legal Services Committee, also presided over the legal education camps at Hurla village in the Garsa valley and Gandhi Nagar in the town recently. The CJM detailed the provision of free legal aid to weaker sections of society. Senior advocates and police officials acquainted residents with various laws and legal procedures. 

Shimla, September 25
The Himachal Pradesh Government would take effective measures to check overloading in buses and licences and route permits of operators who violate the traffic rules would stand cancelled, Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh said today.

Singh, who visited the Ghumarwin and Bilaspur hospitals to inquire about the well being of the passengers injured in a bus mishap near Rahian Bridge in Bilaspur district yesterday, said the government would ensure that the buses, private or HRTC, did not carry passengers beyond the seating capacity and if any such instance was reported, strict action would be taken against the defaulters.

“No one will be allowed to flout traffic norms and action would be initiated as per the law against such people”, he said. The Regional Transport officers would be directed to keep a check on overloading of buses, he added.

Assuring that the entire cost of treatment of the injured persons would be borne by the government, he said the state would also make all arrangements for the kin of the deceased to visit Haridwar for last rituals.

He said an Ayurveda Hospital would be constructed in Ghumarwin, provided adequate land is made available. He also assured to take up the matter with National Highway Authorities of India (NHAI) for making a pedestrian path along the road in Ghumarwin town.

Reacting to the reported statement of former chief minister P K Dhumal that repeated accidents were taking place due to bad condition of roads, Singh said “it is not that the accidents are taking places during the Congress rule as such mishaps have been occurring during the BJP regime also”.

On the demand of the local residents of Rishikesh for more buses to Bilaspur, he said more private operators should come forward and apply for route permits and the government would grant the same.

Shimla, September 25
The state secretariat of the CPM condemned the decision of the state government to exempt hydro-power projects from taking a no-objection certificate (NOC) from the Public Works, Irrigation and Public Health, Fisheries and Revenue Departments.

Member, CPM State Secretariat, Tikender Singh Panwar, on Monday said the state was very vulnerable and susceptible to the overriding of violations. He alleged that there was a strong nexus of a triangle of corruption comprising politicians, a section of the bureaucrats and business houses and with no check over construction.

Urging the government to reconsider its decision, the CPM asked the government to call a stakeholders’ meeting. Panwar said the party would like to recall that the government in the past too had been extremely lenient in implementing the norms and laws of the land and there were flagrant violations by the private power producers.

It was not the government, but the state High Court that had fined a private power producer Rs 100 crore, he said, adding that the government was not eager to pursue it now.

It said at present there was no check after the project was sanctioned and issues such as mandatory 15 per cent flow into the river stream, restoration of natural water sources and whether the blasting or boring was scientific or being done massively were still unaddressed.

He said it seemed that the government had still not learnt any lesson from the disaster in Kinnaur district, where two prominent villages — Nathpa and Urni —had lost their existence and still the government was not serious about these projects.

The CPM told the government to take the two recent catastrophes — Uttarakhand and Srinagar— into consideration. He said a flood in the Sutlej basin would be devastating for the entire valley owing to largescale dumping in the basins. 

Solan, September 25
With the US Food and Drug Administration taking a long time to grant product approvals to various drugs, several export-oriented units (EOUs) operating in the state have been forced to put their expansion plans on hold.

Since the pharmaceutical sector is already battling recession, such delays are adversely affecting the growth of EOUs.

The US FDA officials generally conduct inspections only once a year and if they find any laxity at any unit, the unit management is compelled to wait for another year before the team arrives again to re-inspect such units.

A key EOU operating in Baddi, which was endeavouring to commission its new plant by the year 
end is one such plant whose operations have been delayed by nearly a year now due to delay in getting approval from the US FDA.

Since the plant management has shifted its domestic products to its sister concern to another states, its existing unit too was starved of work and it could barely utilise 40 per cent of its existing capacity.

This was despite the fact that the unit management had invested crores on installing the latest production technique to manufacture drugs to meet the high manufacturing standards of various exporting countries, including the USA.

Though a delegation of drug regulatory officials from the Centre and some states had recently met the representatives of various BRIC countries, including Brazil, Russia and China, in Brazil to sort out the issue of inordinate delays in granting approvals, little was being done to address this issue with the US which provides a major market to pharmaceutical companies, opined pharmaceutical investors.

The Baddi-Barotiwala-Nalagarh (BBN) industrial area, which houses nearly 300 pharmaceutical units, is known as the “pharmaceutical hub of Asia”. It annually exports drugs worth ~10,000 crore. Though a majority of the units comprise small-scale industries which export drugs to various countries in Africa, Europe and other nations, they too were facing delays in getting clearances from the Central regulatory authorities.

SL Singla, President, Himachal Drug Manufacturers’ Association, said: “Issues such as speedy grant of the no-objection certificate by the Central regulatory authorities for certain fixed dose combination drugs which are not permitted to be manufactured in India but are in demand in several countries should be given speedily in a time-bound manner, as these drugs will not be sold in domestic markets.”

He said issues such as grant of certificate of pharmaceutical product should also be given speedily as it was mandatory in several countries that require World Health Organisation (WHO) accreditation for pharmaceutical products being imported.

The delays were adversely affecting the EOUs who were reeling through the adverse time.

Mandi, September 25
Municipal Council Executive Officer Ajay Prashar yesterday held a meeting with members of the Nagrik Adhikar Manch and 20 other social and religious organisations over the renovation and expansion of the cremation grounds in the city. It was decided to collect donations for the renovation and expansion work and over ~1 lakh was collected at the meeting.

Manch president Harmeet Singh Bittoo said a committee, to be headed by Prashar, had been constituted to look after the renovation work,

Bittoo said it was decided to first renovate the Hanuman Ghat cremation grounds and then others. — TNS

Kangra, September 25
Parivartan, a year-long programme that takes a holistic approach towards developing personality, was launched at the Dronacharya PG College of Education, Rait, here yesterday. A colloquium on “The role of values and spirituality in empowering life: A journey towards self transformation” was also organised on the occasion.

Prof OSKS Sastri, Dean, Department of Physical and Material Sciences, CUHP, said the aim of education must be kept in mind and teachers must inculcate those aims in the form of values in their students.

Ashok Kumar of Vivekananda Kendra exhorted all to imbibe the values as enunciated by Swami Vivekananda. “The views expressed by Swami Vivekanand on the teacher-student relationship have to be emulated,” he added.

Brahma Kumari Uma urged the students to inculcate true values in them. Swami Gangeshanand Acharya of the Chinmaya Mission said a teacher had to be a learner and a teacher must always remain a pupil, who was always eager to learn.