Dharamsala, October 26
Most private engineering colleges have failed to pay salaries to their employees for the past few months. Sources said private engineering colleges had paid salaries of only June or July to their employees. They had not paid salaries even on Diwali this year.

Ekta, a lecturer in a private engineering college, said she had not got salary for the past three months. The management had been maintaining that they did not have funds to pay them salaries.

Chairman of the private engineering college said they were self-financing institutes. The salaries of the employees had to come from the fees of students. However, due to the policies of the present government, they had not been able make admissions.

“The state government has been maintaining that Himachal is an undeveloped state and people in many areas are poor and need assistance from the Union Government. But while maintaining the norms of admissions in private engineering colleges, it has maintained the standards that are not applicable in any other state of the country,” he said.

Private engineering college managements have been maintaining that besides the strict admission norms, the state government has also adopted a policy. For diploma and engineering students, it has adopted a policy that those who have not cleared 50 per cent papers in the second semester will not be allowed to sit in the third semester.

Engineering colleges are maintaining that now they cannot admit students to the third semester who have not cleared 50 per cent exams in the second semester. This is the direct loss of fee to private colleges. Due to lesser revenue generated from fee, they are not in a position to pay salaries to the employees, they said.

Employees of LLR college are protesting against their management for non payment of salaries. Sources said if the condition remained the same, employees of many other engineering colleges might protest.

There are about 5,000 employees in 16 private engineering colleges.

The state government has decided to harden the stance.

Minister for Technical Education GS Bali had issued directions to Himachal Pradesh Technical University to take strict action against the managements of private engineering colleges that were not paying salaries to their employees.

Private managements of engineering colleges are planning to approach the Supreme Court against the state government decision as a last resort.

Kangra, October 26
Transport, Technical Education and Food and Civil Supplies Minister GS Bali today supported Kangra MP Shanta Kumar’s statement that not pursuing the projects initiated by him as Chief Minister was an insult to democracy. He said the Congress government would complete the projects.

Bali was addressing a press conference at his residence here. He said Himachal was a developing state and there was no scope of ignoring the development projects initiated by any government. He said Shanta Kumar, who expressed anguish over non-completion of the projects initiated by his government, particularly the Bachat Bhawan project at Tehsil Chowk in Kangra, which was highlighted by The Tribune on Saturday, needs to be looked into seriously. He, however, suggested that time had come when the state needed politics of consensus and not the politics of conflict.

Bali said it was the duty of the government to complete the projects started by the previous government. He assured Shanta Kumar that this project would be completed and he would take up the issue with the Chief Minister tomorrow during his tour to the district.

He said other projects which needed to be looked into were some ropeways in the district to boost tourism in the area.

Shimla, October 26
Adding a new dimension to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Swachh Bharat (Clean India) mission, Kinnaur district is all set to be the first district to create a caller tune on clean environment to make the people aware about the mission.

The 47-second caller tune has been composed and Rs 5,000 deposited with the BSNL to provide the service, said Kinnaur Deputy Commissioner DD Sharma, adding that the caller tune would be launched on the opening day of the Kinnaur Tribal Festival on October 30 at Reckong Peo.

As the service could be provided to 165 handsets at one time, an equal number of officers and local representatives would get the caller tune on their mobiles and Kinnaur district would be the first in the country to do so, he added.

The message, written by the DC, which has been recorded in Hindi in the backdrop of Kinnauri folk music of “Phulaich festival” reads “Kabhi dushit yahan paryawaran hone nahi denge, Nahin manega jo uski khabar lenge, Sabh Kinnaur ke wasi kasam yeh khayange, Bahut hi pawan dhara hai, Swachh ise rakhenge.”

In addition to this, other traditional modes such as displaying posters and hoardings, organising meetings and rallies, screening documentaries and nukkar sabhas is also being used to reach out to the people.

Preachers and priests of local temples have also been roped to give boost to the campaign and make it more effective, he said, adding that students had also been urged to act as messengers and identify and report about open defecation locations, garbage heaps, stagnant water, etc.

Buoyed by the success of “caller tune” in Hindi, exhorting the voters to cast their vote in the last Lok Sabha polls held on May 7 to ensure 100 per cent voting, the district administration feels that the message given by the caller tune spreads very fast as a large number of officers, motivators and general public downloaded the caller tune. The tune can also be used as the ring tone.

Sharma said out of the 65 panchayats in the district, 64, excluding Zabang panchayat, are already declared Nirmal gram panchayats and the target is to ensure that the people in rural areas use the toilets and eliminate open defecation.

Shimla, October 26
Doctors at the Indira Gandhi Medical College Hospital (IGMC) here are gearing up to fight the Ebola virus. Four rooms have been earmarked for treatment of those afflicted with this deadly disease and four doctors are being sent to Delhi to get training in its treatment.

Training will be imparted to these doctors, selected from the Medicine, Microbiology, Preventive and Social Medicine (PSM) and Child Departments, as master trainers. They will in turn train doctors and para-medical staff after their return. The four to five-day training will start from tomorrow and the hospital administration has already procured 100 protection kits to be used in the treatment of those afflicted with the deadly virus, said Medical Superintendent Ramesh Chand.

The Union Government had directed all the states to take necessary precautions regarding the disease which is contagious, he said. Till now, no case of the Ebola virus had been reported in the state and the country, but precautionary steps were being taken, he added.

Solan, October 26
The magisterial inquiries conducted into the two recent bus accidents in Sirmaur district, which claimed 39 lives, have blamed the failure of the local authorities to check untrained drivers from plying buses on narrow roads and overloading as the main reasons.

The first accident took place on April 7, in Shillai tehsil, and claimed 21 lives. The inquiry conducted by the SDM has pointed out that the ill-fated private bus was carrying 72 passengers against its capacity of 44 seats and reckless driving on a narrow road meant for smaller vehicles had led to the fatal accident.

Another private bus that met with an accident, claiming 21 lives, on the Renuka Jee-Dadahu road in June was also being plied on a road meant for smaller buses. The Nahan SDM, in her report, has pointed out that since there was no board on the road to warn that it was not fit for bigger vehicles, the driver, who appeared to have little experience of hill driving, failed to negotiate the narrow curvy road, causing the bus to plunge into a gorge.

The Public Works Department (PWD) has been directed to widen the roads as per the norms, erect crash barriers and boards on spots prone to accidents to warn the motorists. The poor maintenance of roads and failure to undertake timely widening of roads is a problem plaguing a majority of the roads in Sirmaur. Also, the transport authorities do little to check overloading which is frequently causing accidents.

The reports have also directed the superintendents of police and regional transport officials to initiate a special drive to inspect the passenger vehicles to help avert such incidents in the future. These reports have been sent to principal secretaries of transport and revenue and department of home for further action.

Though magisterial inquires are constituted each time accidents claiming several lives occur, there is little adherence to recommendations put forth by these inquiries as the PWD is perpetually marred by the lack of budget and the Transport Department by the lack of staff.

Hamirpur, October 26
With Dr Yashwant Singh Parmar Forestry and Horticulture University (DYSPFHU), Solan, making successful inroads into kiwi cultivation at its research centre in Bhota near here, progressive farmers are keen on cultivating this high-return fruit.

The bumper crop at the experimental orchard at Bhota Research Centre of the horticulture university can strengthen the economy of farmers in the state.

The cultivation will not only help in improving the economy of farmers, but will provide the much-needed relief from monkey menace as well.

As the fruit bears stiff hair and tastes sour, monkeys do not damage it. Notably, several small and marginal farmers have abandoned the cultivation of crops such as wheat, maize and cereals owing to monkey menace.

The successful cultivation of kiwi is expected to come as a big relief to those growing mango, guava, apple, banana and papaya, which were easily destroyed by monkeys. Farmers can now diversify to kiwi fruit that could bring good results in future.

The kiwi is the rarest fruit that has exotic value along with high price, depending on its size and quality.

The average weight of a kiwi fruit is nearly 60-70 gm. Moreover it has high nutritive and medicinal value and is rich in vitamin B, C and minerals such as phosphorus, potassium and calcium.

It is consumed fresh or combined with other fruits in salads and desserts and is in high demand at high-end hotels. The scientists at the research centre were overwhelmed on the result of kiwi plantation and ready to encourage farmers for commercial production.

Dr KS Verma, Head of the research centre, believes that it was a good initiative towards crop diversification and also profitable for farmers.

The cultivation of kiwi can also benefit apple orchardists, where apple production had reduced due to climatic changes, he added.

The fruit can be cultivated at 500 to 800 m above sea level, but in sub-tropical region, shadow zones are considered best for its cultivation.

Dr BS Dogra in-charge of Bhota Research Centre said kiwi plant starts bearing fruit at the age of 4-5 years, while commercial production starts at the age of 7-8 years.

The fruits mature earlier at lower altitude and later at high altitudes because of variation in temperature. After harvesting, fruits are rubbed with a coarse cloth to remove the stiff hair from its surface and hard fruits are sent for consumption, he said.

He said the fruit yield varies from 50-100 kg per vine. Vines on trellis produce about 25 tonne per hectare after seven years.

Shimla, October 26
Cold wave conditions persisting in high-altitude tribal areas and other higher hills intensified today as the mercury dropped by two to three degrees.

The mercury stayed two to five degrees below freezing point in high-altitude areas and mountain passes of Rohtang, Saach and Kunzam which received another spell of light snow, while Kalpa and Keylong and Lahaul and Spiti districts reeled under piercing cold wave conditions with mercury dipping to 1.4°C and 3.4°C.

Manali shivered at 3.6°C, while Bhuntar and Solan recorded a low of 8°C, two degrees below normal. Shimla recorded the minimum temperature at 9.7°C, followed by Sundernagar 10°C, Dharamsala 12.2°C and Palampur and Una 13.2°C.

The sky remained partially overcast and strong velocity winds swept the region.

Una, which was hottest in the region during the day, recorded the maximum temperature at 28.6°C, against 31°C yesterday, while Sundernagar and Bhuntar recorded a high of 26.6°C, followed by Nahan 25.2°C, Solan 24°C, Dharamsala 23.4°C, Shimla 19.3°C, Manali 17.4°C and Kalpa 16.6°C.

The local MeT office has predicted dry weather in the region tomorrow and rain or snow at isolated places in higher hills on October 28.

Solan, October 26
With the state government having recognised only limited institutes that impart computer education, thousands of aspirants, who had applied for the post of panchayat sahayak in the Panchayati Raj Institutions, have been left in the lurch as their institutes are not recognised by the government.

The state government has sought applications from eligible candidates who fulfil the basic qualification, including Class XII and a six-month or one-year course in computer from institutes recognised by the state or Central government.

The recruitments are being made by the Zila Parishad for the first time. Earlier, the Hamirpur-based Subordinate Services Selection Board used to recruit staff.

It is learnt that around 3,700 applications were received for the 24 posts in Solan district and only three to five candidates had done computer courses from industrial training institutes in Kasauli, Diggal and Arki and private institutes in Nalagarh and Parwanoo.

There are several institutes that impart computer courses, including NIIT and a few others being operated by Punjab Technical University, but they are not recognised by the government.

Hence, aspirants who have done diploma course from these institutes, do not fulfill the qualifying criteria.

The sources said this had created problem for the staff of the Panchayati Raj Institutions as the number of aspirants who fulfilled the qualifying criteria was less in comparison to the number of posts.

Applications were invited for these posts in September and its scrutiny was underway by the Zila Parishad staff.

Selections are based on educational qualifications and 5 marks will be allotted to aspirants having a recognised computer diploma, 15 marks on the basis of a candidate’s performance in the interview and 5 marks for candidates belonging to rural areas.

Several institutes have been identified by the Department of Industries for imparting skills to make youth eligible for obtaining the skill development allowance.

Dharamsala, October 26
The proposed decision of the state government to ban the sale of tea gardens in Kangra district is likely to hit small farmers. The state is mulling the decision after much ruckus was created regarding the sale of tea gardens in Kangra district, especially to the education society owned by lawyer Prashant Bhushan.

However, the issue is being viewed more from political perspective than violation of laws of the land.

The government has banned the change in nature of tea gardens located in Kangra district, but for permission from the state government in this regard. Owners of tea gardens were exempted from the Land Ceiling Act. They were allowed to retain more than 300 kanals by the state government but with a condition that they cannot sell the tea gardens without the permission of state government.

However, the Act is a bane for the small land holders. Many farmers in the district own just about a few kanal land. They cannot grow tea to sustain them on a few kanal.

Though their land is now valuable as it is located near Palampur, they cannot sell their land due to restriction on them.

Such farmers alleged that the benefit of exemption in land ceiling was taken by a few big farmers as they retained large chunks of land for retaining the tea gardens. Ironically, it is the farmers who took benefit of the ceiling for tea gardens, who have been given permissions for selling tea garden land by the successive state government in the last three decades.

Small farmers who did not take the benefit of the land ceiling are not being permitted by the state government to sell their land as they do not have influence to pursue their cases.

Sources also said though the present government had been targeting a few cases of sale of tea gardens, nobody was speaking about large chunks of tea gardens taken over by various religious cults.

Many religious cults have taken over hundreds of kanals of tea garden land in Kangra and raised pucca structures over these. Everything is being done openly.

However, till date none of the officials or politicians in the state has spoken against them.

According to experts, the production of Kangra tea has fallen to just 8 lakh kg per annum against 17 lakh kg per annum recorded in 1998. The production was just .01per cent of the total 90 million kg production tea in the country.

With just 8 lakh kg production, the tea cannot be promoted at commercial scale in any market. The area under tea plantation in Kangra district has fallen to just about 2,000 hectares as compared 4,000 hectares at one time.

The low yield and lack of initiative among local tea farmers was responsible for low production of Kangra tea according to experts.

Not even a single tea farmer from Kangra applied for a scheme launched by the Tea Board of India for re-planting old tea orchards. Most of tea plants in Kangra are over hundred-year old. The government had launched a scheme in which 25 per cent subsidy was being given to farmers for re-planting in orchards.

Agriculture experts said since the government was not allowing the farmers of Kangra to divert their land to other agriculture purpose except tea, it should also compensate them. 

Nurpur, October 26
Sixteen non-government organisations (NGOs) and social organisations have underlined the need to establish a central university in the Nurpur area. Under the banner of the local NGO Crescent Club and the Nurpur Press Club, these non-government organisations have submitted a memorandum to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, copies of which were forwarded to Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh and MP Lok Sabha Shanta Kumar last evening through the Sub-Divisional Magistrate here.

They said the Centre had approved this university in March 2009, but it had become a rolling stone between Dehra and Dharamsala region due to political reasons.

For want of requisite land for setting up the university, the Central project could not be materialised and its temporary campus had been running at the Government Degree College in Shahpur, they said.

The non-government organisations said the upper areas in the Kangra district had a number of prestigious government educational and professional institutions as well as universities and other Central government’s projects, but lower Kangra area comprising Nurpur, Indora, Fatehpur and Jawali Assembly segments had no such institute.

In the memorandum, Prime Minister Modi has been urged to intervene to remove development imbalance from the biggest district and sanction the establishment of a central university or at least its campus in the Nurpur area.

The non-government organisations have also claimed that there was no dearth of vacant government land in the region as thousands of kanals of land was available at Khanni, Kotpalari and Ganhi-Lagor areas. 

Shimla, October 26
The discouraging results of the western tragopan breeding and conservation projects at Sarahan in Shimla district have forced the Wildlife Department to start a Rs 5-crore artificial insemination project for enhancing the population of the endangered bird.

A Rs 5-crore proposal has been sent to the Central Zoo Authority (CZA) to start an artificial insemination breeding project to enhance the population of western tragopan in the state. “Since the results of the conservation and breeding project have not been very successful, we now intend to use the artificial insemination technique which will give us better results in supplementing the natural population of western tragopan,” said Lalit Mohan, Additional Principal Chief Conservator, Forest (Wildlife).

Launched with much fanfare in 2005, the poor results of the breeding programme at the two aviaries at Sarahan and Gopalpur in Shimla district has compelled the Wildlife wing of the Forest Department to think of starting the first-of-its-kind programme in the country. The Wildlife wing is undertaking two conservation projects – one for western tragopan at Sarahan near Rampur in Shimla district and second for chir pheasant near Chail in Solan district.

The number of birds, including chicks and parents at Sarahan, is about 26. “To start the release programme of these birds bred in captivity, we require a larger number of birds for which we intend to switch over to the artificial insemination technique,” said Mohan. He said the department had also decided to rely on its own staff rather than rope in experts.

Sources said another reason that had compelled the Wildlife Department to think of adopting more sophisticated technique for breeding of western tragopan was the failure of the Wildlife Institute (WII). The WII had been given a consultancy for Rs 34 lakh in 2011 to help in propagation of the birds and chalking out their release policy.

As far as chir pheasants are concerned, the Wildlife Wing has got far better success. In case of western tragopan, the Wildlife Wing does not have enough founder stock to start reintroduction of the birds into the natural habitat. With a proper international protocol for reintroduction of the birds being
in place, every factor has to be taken into account, including survival instinct, food and acclimatisation to the natural environs.

Despite seeking the advice of John Corder and other experts from the Wildlife Institute of India and the Central Zoo Authority to ensure success of the breeding and conservation programme of the pheasants in Himachal, the results have not been as expected. The Wildlife Department is now hoping to achieve better results through artificial insemination.

Shimla, October 26
The lavish spending of the HP Chemist and Druggist Alliance (HPCDA), a registered society, has come under the scanner of Registrar of Societies and Assistant Registrar (Audit) Bharat Singh Kaith, who probed the allegations against the society.

He has recommended a “special audit” under Section 35 (3) of the Registration of Societies Act, 2006.

The probe was ordered following a number of allegations such as the non-submission of mandatory returns, non-submission of copies of financial position of members, failure to convene annual general meeting of the society and non-compliance of provisions under Sections 20(1) (2) (5) of the Act, which makes its obligatory to get the audited copy of the balance sheet and the statement of income and expenditure approved at the AGM made by Deepak Sood.

During the course of inquiry, it was revealed that the society spent Rs 1,85,28,630 during the five-year period from 2008-09 to 2012-13 on activities such as gifts and mementoes, meeting expenses, periodicals, travelling expenses among other things, but no information was given about the source of income. The inquiry officer said: “This needs to be thoroughly investigated and the balance sheet should be prepared as per the requirements under Section 35 of the Act.”

The report said, “The society has consecutively violated the provisions under Section 35(1) of the Act and should be charged late fee of Rs 50 per day for making default in filing the prescribed audit statement.”

The society spent Rs 33,29,315 on various activities in contravention to the basic object of charity and the society should avoid such expenses and funds generated by the society should be spent “judiciously” on purpose specified in the memorandum.

The report said the generation of funds and its utilisation also required comprehensive and thorough investigations as the society was generally generating and utilising funds to the tune of Rs 50 lakh annually for which no “transparent accounting system is devised or followed”.

“Moreover, no information is passed on to the members,” the report said.

Nurpur, October 26
The existence of a liquor vend and positioning of the state government’s overhead gantry welcoming tourists and other visitors at Kandwal, just on the gateway to the hill state, near here is strange. The wording on the gantry, fixed by the National Highways Authority of India, at the entry point of Pathankot-Mandi NH-20 just adjoining the vend reads “Dev Bhumi Himachal Pradesh Apka Swagat Karti Hai”.

The vend had been opened with the permission of the state Excise and Taxation Department. The positioning of the liquor vend as well as the state government’s gantry has become ridiculous as these can be seen simultaneously while entering Himachal. This has become irksome and evokes sharp criticism from commuters. Trucks and other private vehicles entering the state used to stop on the national highway, creating traffic bottlenecks as their crew members buy liquor from the roadside vend.

As per information, the HP High Court had earlier passed directions on December 2012, asking the state government to remove all liquor vends that were visible from national or state highways within the jurisdiction of the state. The High Court had also constituted a committee to draft a policy regarding what distance should be maintained between liquor vends, educational institutions, places of worship and highways. In this connection, Satya Brat Sharma, Superintending Engineer, NH circle, Shahpur, said as per the court’s directions no liquor vend could run on the highway. He said he had noticed a number of liquor vends being run on the edges of the Pathankot-Mandi national highway and these were being served notices to shift from the NH.

Meanwhile, Vivek Mahajan, Assistant Taxation Commissioner, Nurpur, claimed that the opening of liquor vends on the NH had been allowed by the High Court with the condition of a sale window measuring 2’x2’ and remaining part of the vend should not be visible.

The Supreme Court in March this year had rejected the Haryana Government’s plea for allowing liquor vends along national and state highways.

Kullu, October 26
The eco-zone area covering over 150 villages in the Tirthan and Sainj wildlife sanctuaries will not be merged into the Great Himalayan National Park (GHNP), though these will remain part of the UNESCO’s World Heritage Site (WHS).

BS Rana, Director, GHNP, confirmed that as per UNESCO’s directions, both scantuaries would not be merged with the GHNP. However, all three will constitute the World Heritage Site.

Earlier in 2010, the eco-zone area of 365 sq km, including Sainj Sanctuary having an area of 90 sq km and Tirthan Sanctuary having an area of 61 sq km, were merged with the GHNP to enlarge the total area of the park to 1,171 sq km set to achieve the WHS status.

The proposal included the merger of three remote villages of Shakti, Shugad and Maror with GHNP and rehabilitation of the residents outside the park area, which was resented and opposed by the villagers.

The WHS status has come as a boon for the villagers who will not be ousted from their ancestral land as UNESCO has advised the government to protect the distinctiveness of these villages. The socio-cultural lifestyle of the village will become world famous after achieving the status of a world heritage.

The Director said the new proposal had been made in which the Tirthan and Sainj sanctuaries would not be merged with the GHNP, though these would remain part of the UNESCO’s World Heritage Site.

Sundernagar, October 26
Baroti (Sundernagar) gram panchayat president Namita Sharma, feeling harassed due to the attitude of officials of the Block Development Office (BDO), Sundernagar, has written to Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh. A copy of this complaint has been forwarded to the Mandi Deputy Commissioner.

An inquiry has been sought into the matter. Action has also been demanded against those officials who have been harassing Namita.

Addressing mediapersons here today, Namita said a case of sexual harassment was registered against Technical Assistant Roshan Lal under Section 354 of the IPC. Later, on her complaint Roshan was transferred, but after six months he was again posted with the same panchayat by order of the BDO. Now Roshan was creating trouble in development works of the panchayat and threatening her to withdraw the case, or he would implicate her in a false case.

She said an officer of the BDO was not implementing the CM’s orders.

She said the Chief Minister had ordered the transfer of Secretary Rajani and Technical Assistant Roshan Lal, but Block Development Officer Manoj Kumar on his own had posted these officers at the Baroti gram panchayat.

Namita told mediapersons that Manoj Kumar was a resident of Mahadev village in Sundernagar. As per rules, such officers could not be posted in their home stations.

She said when she tried to highlight this issue, officials of gram panchayat, along with certain staff of the BDO, tried to implicate her in a false case of cement bags regarding which she had already written to the BDO office on August 20, 2013. Now she has written to the Chief Minister.

She said she had decided to take up this issue with the state women commission. Gram Panchayat Chamukha Meera Thakur, who was also present, also claimed that the BDO, Sundernagar, was not implementing the orders issued by the Chief Minister.

Roop Singh Thakur, former BJP minister, said Manoj was functioning on political lines and harassing Namita.

Shimla, October 26
The meeting of the central executive committee of the Himachal Pradesh State Electricity Board Employees’ Union will be held in Chamba on November 11 in which the issue of franchisee introduced in the board will be taken up.

“Several other important resolutions are expected to be passed in the meeting with regard to strengthening of Himachal Pradesh State Electricity Board Ltd along with detailed deliberation on holding of a general conference as well as election of the Union,” a spokesperson of the union said here today.

He said the union appreciated the historical decisions taken by the state government to strengthen the Himachal Pradesh State Electricity Board and granting a bailout package of Rs 1,462 crore to the Himachal Pradesh State Electricity Board for financial restructuring.

Moreover, recruitment for more 2,250 posts of various categories was in the process, he said.

Recently, the state government had arrived at an agreement with the Himachal Pradesh State Electricity Board with regard to its equity power in the Nathpa Jhakri Hydel Project which will now be utilised by the HPSEB for all times to come.

It will bridge the gap of power demand and supply during winter.

Kangra, October 26
A 37-year-old woman, Nimmo Devi, of Bharmour, who went into a coma due to the alleged apathy of doctors at a camp, is still struggling for her life in the ICU of the DRPGMC at Tanda. The camp, organised by the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) in collaboration with Akash Hospital, New Delhi, at the CHC, Bharmour, was held on October 21.

Nimmo’s husband Parshotam Lal, a resident of Shan village under Bharmour tehsil of Chamba district, alleged that his wife was operated upon for gallstone at the camp. He said the organisers told him that during the surgery there was a power failure and even the generator did not work. Then she was referred to the Chamba hospital where doctors further referred her to the Tanda medical college.

He said Dr Anil Chauhan, Principal, DRPGMC, had directed the doctors in the ICU to take care of the patient. An NGO, Dhauladhar Yuva Club, Dharamsala, had offered to help his family and the patient, he said.

Chander Bhardwaj, running the NGO, said doctors told him that the condition of the patient was serious and there were only 50 per cent chances of her survival. Bhardwaj urged Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh to help the family from the CM’s Relief Fund and order an inquiry into the matter so that the guilty could be brought to book.

Meanwhile, Dr Maksood Tamboli, Chief Medical Officer, Akash Hospital, said there was a power failure at Bharmour when the operation was in progress and before the power supply from the generator could be restored it was immediately decided to abandon the procedure in the interest of the patient.

He said he would take up the matter with officials of the Health Department of the state to financially help the family of the patient.

Una, October 26
The Una Senior Citizens Forum held a meeting at the Senior Citizens Hall near the City Municipal Park here today.

At the meeting, they demanded free medicines to those elderly persons who came from economically weak backgrounds. The forum also sought separate queues at government health institutions, priority in health check-up and reservation of seats in buses for senior citizens.

Forum president GR Verma said the members were against food wastage at marriages and functions, drug and alcohol abuse and female foeticide. Their members had decided to organise campaigns against these issues in their localities, he added.

Verma said senior citizens had decided to hold cleanliness drives in their neighbourhood, besides interacting with the authorities concerned and social bodies regarding the encroachment of public paths by shopkeepers and traffic mismanagement within the city.

Among others, forum members VN Sharma, JS Daroch, Dev Raj, Gulwant Singh, Shamsher Singh Rana, Bakhtawar Singh, Usha Sharma and BD Sharma were present on the occasion.

Bachat Bhawan, on the premises of the office of the district administration, Shimla, was full to its capacity when the Chief Minister conferred the Lifetime Achievement Award for Literature on Shriniwas Shrikant (SS). The award was sponsored by the Himalaya Sahitya aur Sanskriti Manch, HP, headed by known litterateur SR Harnot. Born on November 12, 1937, SS has written 11 books of poetry, stories, critical analysis etc, besides two plays during his to-date literary journey. The one book, on which he is working at present, is “Critical Analysis of Muktibodh’s Writing”. His anthology of poems, “Aadmi ki Duniya ka Din”, and critical analysis of three story-tellers of London, Delhi and Shimla, “Katha Trikon”, was also released by the Chief Minister on the day.

There were no less than eight litterateurs who came to the dais and sang well deserved hosanna to the man of the day. I will mention only two of them. Jagdish Rana quoting from the Bhagwat Gita said when Sukadev, the rishi-parrot, pecked at the fruit of Kalpa Vriksha, its “ras” (nectar) dropped beneath for all to taste it, similarly SS is Sukadev who pecks at the fruit of Kavya Taru (the tree of poetry) and we all take pleasure in the flavour of the fruit. Saroj Vashisht eulogised the poetic acumen of SS and said one could read again and again the poem “Insaan aur Kabootar” figuring in the recently released poetry book. I give the first three lines of the poem, which are eloquent enough to disclose the content: “Kabootaron mein/ Hai kitni ektaa/ Insaan kyon nahin hua vaisa?”

The speakers dubbed SS as a bundle of talent and praised his sense and understanding of music, drama and discerning feel for creativity. He kept his pen down for 22 years and devoted those in studying Bach, Beethoven etc and Indian classical music. But none of them said he was a great cook too. SS was friendly to my younger brother and would come to our house very often and cook food for the gang of poets, dramatists and musicians assembled there. He himself, then, was a bulimic and once confessed, “I eat a mountain of bhaat (cooked rice).” William had probably quoted this for SS, “If you are a cook, no matter how good a cook you are, it’s not good cooking for yourself; the joy is in cooking for others — it’s the same with music or poetry.”

His wife Nirmala was known to me prior to my acquaintance with SS as we were colleagues in the Education Department in the ‘60s and with SS, I could not advance any further than being mere acquaintances although he, with me, was one of the eight writers that had formed the Shikhar Gosthi (club). Once he telephoned me and advised me not to drive the car in future for he foresaw a major accident, if I drove the car myself. I am writing this incident to show how full of sensitivity and compassion is he. He is one litterateur who has never do-downed the other writer. He has always encouragede fresh quills. He is a person who knows that he knows, but shirks from showmanship of wisdom unlike the “empty vessels”. He has imbibed from Sheikh Saadi: “Keep silent or say something more meaningful than silence.” In his writings, however, he, sometimes, becomes heavy for the common reader. Read this from “Adhunik aadmi ke niyatiyaan”: “Hum hain Arthur Koestler ke/ Prithviyaan par yatra kar rahe/ Homosapien.” Arthur Koestler was a Hungarian-British author and journalist who committed suicide because he suffered from Parkinson’s disease. Homosapien is a term to describe modern man. Millions of years ago, homosapien meant the first great ape.

When SS sang his ghazal in the hall: “Kaagzi jahaazon ka jaane kaisa manzar hai/ Beech mein jaziraa hai har taraf samandar hai”, or his poem “Ab nahin aate parinde basti ke paas/ Ab woh rahtein hain ghamgeen aur udaas”, there was none in the hall who could check himself from instant utterance — “Wah! Wah!” SS and Nirmala! Why are you, like birds of SS poetry, “udaas” on this happy day (See photo)? 

Shimla, October 26
The Himachal Government has chalked out a revised action plan to make the state “open defecation-free” by 2019, ahead of the target of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s dream project, Swachh Bharat Mission.

Earlier, the government had set 2022 as target to make the state open defecation-free under the Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan by constructing individual, institutional, cluster and community toilets.

The government will expedite the works on the laying of pipes in all villages, enabling people to get water connections in each household for keeping toilets clean, an official spokesman said here today.

The government also approved a strategy and adopted a Total Sanitation Campaign. The strategy was to address all sections of rural population to bring about relevant behavioural changes for improved sanitation.

As per a baseline survey conducted in 2013, out of 14,835,62 households, 12,745,55 have toilets. As many as 2.2 lakh individual toilets were to be constructed of which 54,000 have already been constructed. Apart from 1200 toilets under construction in the schools, the state is certain to achieve the target before 2019.

The government has approved Rs 852.55 crore for revised projects under the Swachh Bharat mission, out of which the first instalment of Rs 48 crore has been received.

Himachal Rural Development and Panchayati Raj Minister Anil Sharma said the total sanitation target had almost been achieved and panchayats not covered under the programme yet would be covered shortly. “Special attention will be paid to cover the remote and tribal areas of the state, so as to achieve the 100 per cent target,” he added.

Palampur, October 26
Andretta, also known as the village of artists, attracts a lot of tourists every year, as it is situated in the foothills of the picturesque Himalayas, 10 km from Palampur, but roads and streets here are in a pathetic condition.

The government had announced the construction of cemented roads at the village, but in vain. The project has been left halfway causing inconvenience to not only locals, but tourists as well.

Nora Richard, an Irish writer, dramatist and follower of Tolstoy lived in the village. Her husband was a professor at the Government College in Lahore. After his death, she left for England, but later returned to India and permanently settled here. Nora built a beautiful English-style cottage of mud, slate and bamboo at the village. She taught drama to students from Punjab and various other parts of the country.

She donated her house and land to Punjabi University, Patiala, which is preserving it as its heritage monument.

Students from Punjabi University come to Andretta every year on October 29 to celebrate Nora’s birthday.

Another famous painter Sardar Sobha Singh also settled here. One can visit his art gallery and see dozens of paintings and blueprints of his works.

The state government has failed to declare this village as a heritage village so far. In case it is given a heritage status, more tourists would start moving to the village.

The Tribune team visited the village and was told that the immediate improvement of roads, streets and green cover was the need of the hour. 

Kangra, October 26
A 30-year-old man of Bhota village in Hamirpur district, who had allegedly self-immolated and received serious burn injuries, died at the Dr Rajendra Prasad Government Medical College (DRPGMC) at Tanda today, the police said.

The Bhota police post in charge said victim Kewal Krishen was allegedly suffering from some mental disorder for which he was undergoing treatment at Hamirpur.

He said Kewal committed self-immolation at his house on October 22 and was rushed to the district hospital in Hamirpur, after which doctors referred him to the DRPGMC hospital.

The police have started investigation under Section 174, CrPC. The post mortem would be performed tomorrow, the police said.