Dharamsala, November 17
After putting in more than three years in research work nearly 25 scholars, who had enrolled themselves with Arni University in 2011, have been left in the lurch. They have been told that the university cannot award them the research degrees.

Bhartendu, a government school teacher from Kangra district, registered himself for PhD in chemistry in 2011 with Arni University.

He said: “I took admission in the PhD programme of Arni University in response to an advertisement issued by the institute. I sat for the entrance test and was admitted for the programme with 83 other students. I also took permission from my employer for carrying out PhD in Arni University. In the past three years, I have worked hard and am almost ready to submit my thesis. But now, I have been told by the university management that they cannot issue me my PhD degree as the state Higher Education Department has ruled that Arni University is not authorised to award research degrees.”

Priyankur, another PhD student, said: “It was a shock for us. When nearly 90 per cent of our research work is complete, the Himachal Government and university management are telling us that we cannot be awarded the degree.”

“We have paid Rs 1.20 lakh fee to the university in the past three years. More than the fee it is three academic years that we have put in to get the degrees,” he said.

Arni University VC SK Kaushal blamed the Education Department for the current scenario.

He said the university started the PhD programme in 2011 as per the minutes of the meeting held with the then secretary higher education.

“In the meeting the secretary had held that private universities can offer PhD degrees by following rules laid down by the Universities Grants Commission (UGC),” he said.

The Arni University followed the procedure laid down by the UGC and conducted an entrance test for selecting candidates for its PhD programme, he said.

“When the PhD programme was started the department of higher education of Himachal Pradesh was intimated. After that the Himachal government constituted the Regulatory Commission for monitoring the activities of private educational institutes in the state. The Himachal Pradesh Regulatory Commission teams visited the university and made some objections regarding the shortcomings in various departments. All objections raised by the commission were complied by the university,” he said.

“During this period nearly 50 students, who had enrolled with the university, left the programme. The university refunded their fee. However, nearly 25 students continued with their PhD and intimation regarding their work was regularly provided to the higher education department of the state,” the VC said.

“Now, in October 2014 the Department of Higher Education has written that the PhD programme of the university was not valid. If the Higher Education Department had any problem with the PhD programme of the university, it should have written a similar letter earlier so that precious academic years of students could have been saved,” he said. Meanwhile, students affected are running from pillar to post to get justice. They also met GS Bali, Minister for Technical Education, Food and Civil Supplies and Transport, with a petition. They are also contemplating moving the court.

Mandi, November 17
The state government will spend Rs 4,284 crore on education in this financial year. This was stated by Health and Family Welfare Minister Kaul Singh Thakur after laying the foundation stone of Government Senior Secondary School at Pashakot in the Drang Assembly constituency yesterday.

Kaul Singh said a sum of Rs 25 lakh would be spent on the construction of the school. The minister also presided over the annual prize distribution function of the school.

Addressing a gathering, Kaul Singh said in the age of competitions, students must study hard to face future challenges and also take part in other activities along with studies for their overall development.

He exhorted teachers to train students in moral education along with other subjects.

Talking about development in the area, the Health Minister said nearly Rs 1 crore was spent on the construction of the 9-km Ghatasani-Jhatingari-Barot road and he would provide Rs 4 lakh for the development of a road from Barot to Mayot.

On the health sector, Kaul Singh Thakur said the government would organise multi-surgical camps at various places in the state and at Barot in the near future, the camp would be organised from November 30 to December 6, 2014. 

Shimla, November 17
The state has a dream to be an education hub but only one out of 16 private universities has got the mandatory assessment and accreditation from NAAC as per statutory regulations of the University Grants Commission (UGC).

As per Section 4.1 of the UGC (mandatory assessment and accreditation) Rules 2002, “It will be mandatory for every higher education institution to get accredited after two batches are passed out or six years, whichever is earlier” but only JayPee University of Information Technology in Solan district has got the accreditation from NAAC, Bangalore, while the case of Chitkara University is at an advanced stage.

Taking cognizance of the fact that most universities have not got the NAAC accreditation, the Himachal Pradesh Private Educational Institutions Regulatory Commission (HPPEIRC) has taken a major initiative to improve the standards of education and asked the private universities to get accredited by NAAC.

The regulatory commission has told nine universities, whose accreditation is due, to take action and inform the commission and the government.

There are nine universities wherein two batches have passed out or have completed six years but not got NAAC accreditation and some universities have not even applied for it.

Shimla, November 17
The Tourism Department, to give a fillip to adventure tourism, has engaged a consultant for exploring the possibility of developing the Bashal slopes, near Sarahan, on the border of Shimla and Kinnaur districts.

Known as the Bashal Kanda, a vast expanse of land has the potential for being developed as an alpine golf course or as a major skiing site. It is to ascertain if the site is more suited for a golf course or for developing as ski slopes that a consultant has been engaged.

Efforts had been made to develop the Bashal slopes a few years ago with about Rs 1 crore funding from the Centre. However, with large portions of the slopes being the forest area, work had to be executed by the Forest Department which failed to do so and the money had to be spent elsewhere.

In fact, the possibility to have the place connected with a ropeway was also explored and the possibility still remains open.

With there being a major shift in tourism towards adventure, culture and sports such as skiing and paragliding, the state government is keen that new destinations are developed which caters to this segment of tourists whose number is growing day by day.

Though winter sports are a big attraction at Solang near Manali, as far as Shimla district is concerned, there is no major attraction. It is for this reason that the government is keen to develop a ski resort with ski slopes here. Chanchal in Rohru is another area which too has a potential for being developed as a ski resort.

The Tourism Department is expected to use the platform of the Confederation of Indian Industry which is holding a three-day conclave in Chandigarh on December 5 to showcase the potential that Himachal has, be it adventure, cultural, religious or eco-tourism.

The much-hyped Himalayan Ski village project in Kullu could not come up as it faced stiff opposition from locals and still faces an uncertain future. The government is now keen to develop ski resorts, ropeways and other such projects by roping in private players. As such, these projects are expected to be executed under the public-private partnership (PPP) mode.

Kangra, November 17
Neha Dogra of the Dronacharya Post Graduate College of Education (DPGCE), Rait, Kangra, topped an inter-college debate competition organised at Ghumarwin on Saturday.

Dr Pallvi Pandit, Assistant Professor, DPGCE, said Neha and a teacher, Divya Sharma, had participated in the debate organised by the Shiva College of Education, Ghumarwin, on November 15.

Neha got the first prize for her speech on, “War is the only solution to resolve Kashmir issue”. She focused on issues like hijacking of Indian Airlines, Indian Parliament attack, Mumbai train blast and Hyderabad bombing.

In this debate competition, 18 students of nine colleges had participated. 

Shimla, November 17
The High Court today framed three points for the final disposal of the public interest litigation petition relating to the Beas tragedy where 24 BTech students of the VNR Vigyan Jyoti Institute of Engineering and Technology, Hyderabad, and a co-tour operator were washed away near Thalout in Mandi on June 8.

During the course of hearing, the court framed three points. First, what steps should be taken to prevent such incidents in future in the state? Second, whether the investigation is rightly concluded or otherwise and whether the parents of the students can lay a motion before the trial court in terms of Section 173(8) of the Criminal Procedure Code (challan) and, third, whether a final award can be made by the high court in a writ petition?

Passing this order, a Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Mansoor Ahmad Mir and Justice Tarlok Singh Chauhan listed the PIL plea for final disposal on December 9. The Bench passed these orders on a petition taken up suo motu by the court on the news reports on the tragic incident.

The Advocate General also informed the court that the challan had been filed against the accused before the Judicial Magistrate, Mandi. In its earlier order, the court had directed the Chief Secretary to inform the court that what steps the state had taken to prevent such mishaps?

The court had further directed him to file an affidavit after meeting the departments concerned on the steps taken by the government and also asked the parties to suggest measures to prevent such mishaps.

In compliance to these directions, the Chief Secretary had filed an affidavit before the court suggesting preventive measures. 

Shimla, November 17
Former minister Narender Bragta today filed a petition before the high court with a prayer to direct the state and the contractor to complete the Theog-Kotkhai-Jubbal-Rohru road within a stipulated time.

The petitioner alleged that the bad condition of this road had cost apple growers Rs 500 crore. The state has awarded the road work to a Chinese firm, Longijian Roads and Bridge Limited in February 2007.

It was further alleged that though the tender was awarded to the company, the necessary formalities such as acquisition of land , environment and technical clearances were not given by the state government.

It further alleged that the company continued with the contract for about five years and it could not do even 10 per cent of the work. Thereafter, it had abandoned the work and the state government cancelled the tender.

The petitioner further stated in the petition that in 2012 in view of the public inconvenience and the transportation problem, the state considered it proper to bifurcate the tenders into two parts, so that the two contractors may complete the construction work on some early date.

The government floated two different tenders, Theog to Khara Pathar and Khara Pathar to Rohru.

It further stated that the state had awarded both tenders to C&C Construction on November 19, 2013, and as per the agreement, the construction firm was required to complete the work by June1, 2016, but after the completion of one year, only about 2 per cent work had been done by the company.

It further alleged that due to the bad condition of the road, people of the area were not able to carry their crop to the market in time and were facing a huge financial loss.

Shimla, November 17
Former Chief Minister PK Dhumal today lashed out at the state government for raising the price of ration and said the Congress government would not let the public get the feel of “Achhe din” (good days).

Dhumal said the decision of the state government not to cut bus fares in spite of a sharp fall in diesel price was also unfortunate as it was an attempt to deny the benefit of the steps taken by the Modi government to the people of the state.

The inflation has come down to the lowest level in the past two years. The prices of diesel and petrol had been slashed, but the state government negated the efforts of the Prime Minister to bring the prices of essential commodities down by hiking VAT on petrol and diesel and increasing the prices of essential commodities under the Public Distribution System (PDS).

Commodities had reached an all-time low in the whole country, but the Himachal Government is putting VAT on petrol and diesel to hike the prices. Dhumal said during the UPA regime, the prices had been skyrocketing and the then BJP government in the state had given subsidy to ensure that the prices of commodities supplied through PDS did not increase and there was no additional burden on the common man.

Claiming that during the BJP regime, the refined oil was available at Rs 40-45 per litre and the cost of mustard oil was 10 times less than the present price, he rubbished the logic given by the Food and Supplies Minister that the rates were being increased due to inflation. He asserted that the prices of essential commodities were all-time low, but the government is planning to sell refined oil at Rs 55 per litre and increase the prices of pulses by Rs 1 to 7 per kg.

The decision of the state government not to cut bus fares in spite of a sharp fall in diesel price is unfortunate as it is an attempt to deny the benefit of the steps taken by the Modi government for the people of the state. —PK Dhumal, Ex-CM

Hamirpur, November 17
The cooperative movement was the backbone of growth in rural economy and cooperative societies had played an important role in the development of the state, said former Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal at a function organised by the District Cooperative Development Union to mark National Cooperative Week at Tarkwari village in Bhoranj subdivision of the district yesterday.

He said it was Mian Heera Singh Thakur, who conceived the idea of cooperative movement and the then government implemented it in 1904. Poor farmers were charged 37 per cent to 75 per cent rate of interest on the loans given by the sahukars, money lenders and the farmers were forced to live under debt, he added.

Dhumal said the societies were doing a great job by providing farmers loans at cheaper rates which had helped the farmers to buy good seed, fertilisers, tools and tractors, livestock etc. He said agriculture, animal husbandry and cooperative departments were with him during his tenure as chief minister so as to keep an eye on the working and providing better facilities to the farmers and cooperative societies.

Shimla, November 17
The trauma and emergency services in district hospitals and even at the state-level referral hospital Indira Gandhi Medical College (IGMC) remain in disarray.

Reason: The trauma centres at Kullu and Bilaspur located on the accident-prone National Highway-22 lack “dedicated and trained staff of doctors, paramedics and diagnosis equipments such as the MRI and CT scan, while the IGMC is yet to streamline the trauma services as mandated under the “medical emergency protocol”.

The state still needs about 300-400 doctors, 300 nurses, 258 pharmacists at hospitals in rural areas, revealed insiders.

Patients rue that the Rs 2.67-crore trauma centre at regional hospital Kullu and another multi-crore centre at Bilaspur hospital lack specialists and trained staff and even blood gas analysers, ventilators, CT scan and MRI facilities. “Patients are either referred to the PGI or the IGMC, which also has limited facilities,” a doctor here said.

With just 40 beds, including trolleys, the IGMC remains chock-a-block and patients are a harried lot here.

A visitor rued that critically sick patients, seeking CT and MRI diagnosis, face a traumatic time as they are dragged on trolleys all the way from the Emergency in the new building to the ground floor of the old building, through two lifts and the corridor.

“As many as 100-150 patients come to the IGMC from different parts of the state for treatment everyday. Their attendants struggle for trolleys and beds as there is no patient-safety programme,” he rued.

“There are three to four nurses to look after over 50 patients at the Emergency. It still needs 110 more nurses to take care of the patient load. The consultants rarely bother to attend patients in the Emergency,” revealed insiders.

The Union Health Ministry at the Centre and state Health Department have not started the general patient and oral health safety programme documenting patients’ negligence in the country, the experts pointed out.

Despite the fact that the WHO has recommended to start the patient safety programme and put in place the Medical Quality Control Commission to oversee patient safety at government hospitals the state Health Department remains in slumber. In fact a number of medical negligence cases have come to light.

“We have set the blood gas analyser at the Emergency and are setting the CT scan near the Emergency and have identified the space for the MRI facility so that patients don’t have to go to the ground floor for these facilities,” Dr Ramesh Chand, Medical Superintendent at the IGMC, said.

Director, Health Services, RK Sharma said they were training doctors, including paramedics, to take care of trauma centres from AIIMS, New Delhi. 

Solan, November 17
Though a power connection is issued only after a unit has sought consent to establish from the State Pollution Control Board (SPCB), this norm is observed more in the breach.

It was observed that the officials of Himachal Pradesh State Electricity Board Limited (HPSEBL) issued a regular power connection even to the units lacking this consent. Though this was a serious violation of the stringent norms governing pollution control, such as the Air Act and the Water Act, the field officials of the power department conveniently overlooked it.

Not only have several such industrial units, in the Baddi-Barotiwala-Nalagarh industrial area, come to light a few days ago, a commercial complex housing a students’ hostel in the Bhajol area of Solan and a few hotels located on the Dharampur-Kasauli road have also been found operating without the mandatory consent from the SPCB.

Mandi, November 17
As many as 98 persons were examined during a health check-up camp organised by the District Red Cross Society in a slum colony here today.

After inaugurating the camp, Deputy Commissioner Sandeep Kadam said specialists had examined people living in the slum and more such camps would be organised in other parts of the district.

Deputy Commissioner Sandeep Kadam said all education facilities were being provided to children living in the area and soon, a toilet would be constructed for the dwellers to realise the dream of Clean India.

District Red Cross Society secretary Dr OP Bhatia said four eye operations and 16 detailed medical check-ups were recommended during the camp. 

Mandi, November 17
Retired employees of HP Horticulture Produce Marketing and Processing Corporation Limited (HPMC) have constituted the HPMC Ex-Employees Welfare Association.

In a statement, association press secretary Yash Pal Goel said the main objective of the organisation were to look after the welfare of former employees.

He said HS Guleria was unanimously elected president, Chaman Lal Sharma general secretary, Bhag Singh treasurer, Mohinder Dev Sharma joint press secretary, Ramesh Chand Sharma advisor and Harish Vaidya, Ashok Rana and TR Chauhan executive members. 

Shimla, November 17
Residents of Kinnaur district have suggested a tunnel as permanent solution to problem of blockade on the Hindustan-Tibet highway at Urni due to landslides.

The residents, under the banner of the Him Lok Jagriti Manch, headed by RS Negi, and the Karcham-Wangtoo Action Committee, led by Vijay Negi, have pleaded to change the alignment of Karchham-Wangtoo project tunnel and converting it into transport tunnel.

In letters to Chief Minister, Virbhadra Singh, Vidhan Sabha Deputy Speaker Jagat Singh Negi, Deputy Commissioner, Kinnaur, and Officer Commanding, Border Roads Organisation (BRO), they have stressed that another tunnel can be constructed between the Adit II to Head Raised Tunnel (HRT) and Adit AFT-3 for the outflow of the river water and have also submitted the alternate site plan.

The apple marketing season has come to a close, but the situation could become worse during the winter and as such converting the project tunnel into tunnel for vehicular traffic can be an excellent option, the residents asserted.

The highway had been closed for nearly six months due frequent landslides at Urni and vehicles were plying through diversion road which increased the distance by 21-km and is not fit for heavy vehicles.

Further, an underground tunnel could be constructed under the highway for flushing out the water which will not affect power generation of Karchham-Wangtoo project.

“We had made the suggestion to the government before the apple season also but the government did not pay any heed and the apple growers suffered. Now, the government must consider the proposal seriously and implement it”, Vijay Negi added.

Mandi, November 17
Students took everyone by surprise by displaying their technical prowess at the four-day Himachal Pradesh State Children Science Congress being held here from November 14.

They showcased a variety of inspiring models such as generating electricity from hot water springs, sensors to prevent garbage dumping into rivers, rotating solar panels, water harvesting system among others.

Rupali, a Class XII student of Government Girls Senior Secondary School, Chamba, exhibited her home-made air-conditioner.

Anushka, a student of St Stephen’s Senior Secondary School, Chamba, explained the effect of green house gases, global warming and infrared light on the environment.

Rakshita Verma, LMS, Kelheli, Kullu, has developed a system for conversion of plastic into CNG, a low cost bio-fuel.

About geo-thermal electricity, Parul Sharma and Aditi Awasthi said low-cost electricity could be produced by using a turbine on hot-water springs.

Naresh Thakur of Snower Valley Public School, Bajaura in Kullu, said his screw-type turbine could produce electricity with river water falling even from a height of 1 ft.

Nitin Sharma of Trinity School, Banjar, Kullu, has prepared a rotating solar panel which moves with the rotation of the earth.

The Government High School, Dhalwari, Una, had already won the first position in the National Environment Awareness Campaign-2012-13.

Shimla, November 17
Economic census plays a vital role in forming programmes and policies on the basis of topographic, geographic and other conditions of different states of the country. This was stated by Ashish Kumar, Director General, Central Statistical Organisation (CSO), while speaking at the inaugural ceremony of the 22nd conference of the Central and State Statistical Organisation, held by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, in collaboration with Economics and Statistics Department, Himachal Pradesh, on Thursday.

He said people needed decent and qualitative work for the betterment of their life and a lot of surveys had been conducted on the basis of economic data collected at the state and national level.

Stating that the growth in service sector, which was 55-56 per cent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) was good, yet there was need to improve solid growth in agriculture and manufacturing sectors.

He stressed the need for timely submission of reports to the CSO after conducting village to village surveys. Digitalisation of data was the need of the hour and state statistics data should be reported to the concerned agencies in digital form, he added. He also released the Sixth Economic Census of Himachal.

Mandi, November 17
Vallabh Government College, Mandi, will soon submit a fresh detailed project report (DPR) for cluster university to the Union Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD).

Talking to The Tribune, Principal MS Jamwal said they had recently received the guidelines from the MHRD and the fresh DPR would be submitted within 10 days.

The MHRD had proposed to create 35 cluster universities in the country by pooling in resources of three to five existing government and government-aided colleges under the Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA) programme.

According to RUSA guidelines, a cluster university would receive Rs 55 crore in the first phase and all participating colleges would be converted into constituent colleges of the university.

As a precondition, the colleges should ideally be within a radius of 15-20 km from the lead institution.

On April 3, 2014, the MHRD gave in-principle approval for setting up of the university in Mandi, Jamwal added.

Dr Rakesh Kapoor, coordinator, and Rajesh Yadav, liaison coordinator, cluster university, said earlier there were no guidelines and they had prepared the draft according to the requirement of the university to be established in Mandi with Vallabh Government College as the lead college. They said Government Degree College, Bassa, Gohar, Government Degree College Drang at Narla and government-aided MLSM College at Sundernagar would be the constituent colleges. They said the MHRD had relaxed the distance to 25-35 km radius for Mandi.

They said the Rs 55 crore approved for development of infrastructure would be disbursed in three yearly instalments.

On land pool, they said: “Vallabh college possesses 35-40 bigha land and for the superstructure of the cluster university, the district administration has approved 16.5 bighas at Kangani in Mandi. Sundernagar college possesses 100 bighas, Drang college 63 bighas, whereas Bassa college has only 15 bighas and the administration has recently directed the department concerned to transfer 25 bighas for the college and 10 bighas for the university.”

Allotment of funds (approximately)

Vallabh Govt College Mandi ~25 crore

MLSM College Sundernagar ~12 crore

Government College Drang ~11 crore

Government College Bassa ~10 crore

Inter-disciplinary courses to be started

Mandi: School of Law, School of Engineering and Information and Technology and School of Performing Art

Drang: School of Social Sciences and Languages

Bassa: School of Tourism Studies and Library Science

Sundernagar: School of Applied ScienceGovernment College

Dharamsala, November 17
The Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) said on the one hand Chaudhary Sarwan Kumar Agricultural University, Palampur, was reeling under an acute financial crisis, on the other the authorities were wasting money on foreign jaunts and purchase of vehicles.

In a press statement issued here on Tuesday, Arvind Kumar, state secretary, ABVP, said recently the university took a delegation to Mangolia and spent Rs 8 lakh on the trip from the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) funds. He said the delegation included a politician of the ruling party.

KK Katoch, Vice-Chancellor (VC) of the university, violated Section 25 (7) of the Universities Act, 1996, by spending Rs 8 lakh from the ICAR funds for the foreign tour, he said.

The ABVP demanded action against the VC for taking politicians on a foreign trip and misusing the money meant for research and extension purpose. The ABVP was targeting the VC for a trip to Mongolia in which Vice-Chairman of the Forest Corporation Kewal Singh Pathania also accompanied as a member.

The university spokesman refuted the allegations and said everything was done as per the rules. He said the university was bound to follow the agreements made in the memorandum of understanding (MoU) with foreign universities.

The foreign trip was carried as per the MoU with the Mongolian University. The students of the Mongolian University would also visit the Palampur agricultural university soon and they would also be undertaking courses here, he said.

On the controversy regarding Kewal Singh Pathania accompanying the delegation, he said he was a part of the delegation as the member of the Board of Governors of the institute.

The ABVP state secretary also accused the VC of buying a new vehicle worth Rs 8 lakh despite the fact that his office had purchased a similar vehicle of same value last year.

The ABVP alleged that since the university was facing a financial crisis and the employees were not being paid their salaries, purchasing a new vehicle was sheer wastage of funds.

The university spokesperson, however, said no rule had been violated by purchasing the new vehicle for the VC.

The ABVP alleged the university management was extending contracts of certain agencies providing services to the institute despite the fact that many other people were ready to provide similar services at competitive rates.

The ABVP is at loggerheads with the current VC ever since he took over. Sources said the tiff between the ABVP and VC started after some staff from the university was transferred to research stations located in remote areas of the state.

Shimla, November 17
Students involved in violent activities will be dealt with stringent action as per the rules of the university and the law of the land. Himachal Pradesh University Vice-Chancellor Prof ADN Bajpai said this while presiding over a meeting of the officers of the university after re-appointment, here today.

Bajpai said he had always been the promoter of police-free campus and his top-most priority was to maintain peace and tranquillity on the university campus and facilitate common and peace-loving students with girl students to utilise the university’s resources for their studies.

He said any type of laxity would not be allowed in this regard. Effective steps and measure must be taken to finalise the Ghanahatti campus land and satellite campus at Mandi and Una, he added.

Chamba, November 17
The experiment on the reclamation of muck dumping sites on the banks of the Ravi, funded by Chamera-III in Chamba district, has been a great success.

Deodar plants were planted in the infertile soil dumps obtained from the tunnels dug by the NHPC at Dharwala, about 25 km from Chamba. They are now more than 7 feet high and robinia plants are 10 feet high in less than 10 months.

ARM Reddy, Chief Conservator of Forests (CCF), said out of 14 muck dumping sites proposed to be reclaimed on the Ravi, leading to Bharmour from Chamba, 11 sites had been fully reclaimed so far. “Hopefully we will reclaim all sites in the next few years,” Reddy said.

“Besides, deodar, robinia, plants of ritha (soap nut), ban oak, harshringar (ornamental plants) and fruit plants such as pomegranate and chilli have also been planted and are doing good,” he added.

To improve soil nutrients and retain its moisture, palatable and fast-growing saplings of grass tufts, numbering 26,000, had been planted. These had yielded large quantities of grass, Reddy said.

The CCF further said the plants were watered regularly, weeded and mulched properly to retain soil moisture. To give religious protection to the site, a “navagraha vatika” was also being constructed on the premises of the dumping site, with all sacred plants being imported from various climatic regions. It would be thrown open to the public within a couple of months, Reddy said.

Shimla, November 17
Protecting environment is the need of the hour and young citizens can play a significant role in spreading the message in society.

This was stated by Governor Urmila Singh while speaking at a prize distribution function of the state-level painting competition organised by Satluj Jal Vidyut Nigam Limited (SJVNL) in collaboration with the Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) under the National Energy Conservation Campaign on Saturday.

She said children should be made aware in schools about ways to save energy and adopt energy-efficient lifestyles. They could further spread the message in their homes, neighbourhood and society. Energy conservation in our day-to-day life would cut down expenses on the same and prove economical to all, she added.

She also appreciated the efforts of the SJVN for adopting 1,300 schools under the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan for constructing toilets, especially for girls. About 4,61,000 students of 14,238 schools across the state participated in the competition.

Mandi, November 17
Residents of four villages today demanded a probe against a patwari and his immediate transfer.

Patwari Kehar Singh and Naib Tehsildar Gopal Singh Kataria were allegedly attacked by Chet Ram, Biri Singh and three other persons at Nela village when they went there for demarcation of land last week.

In a complaint to the Deputy Commissioner and the Superintendent of Police, residents of Langani, Chanehra, Duddar and Nela villages alleged that the working of the patwari was partial.

The land on which demarcation was to be done was under the possession of the family of Kunti Devi for the past nearly 90 years. When the villagers objected to the demarcation, the patwari pushed Kunti Devi aside and also used casteist remarks against her, they said.

They alleged that in the melee, the patwari fell down and sustained injury. To get a case registered under the SC/ST Act, the woman today filed a petition in the court against the patwari. 

Chamba, November 17
To tackle the problem of stray cattle in the town, a gausadan, already under construction, will be completed within the stipulated period of one month. Chamba Deputy Commissioner M Sudha Devi stated this today while addressing a Monday meeting of district officers.

In the meeting, the DC directed the deputy director of the Animal Husbandry Department to take up the construction work of the gausadan on priority.

She said the gausadan would accommodate 50 to 100 stray cattle and be looked after by a local NGO — Green Valley, Clean Valley.

She also asked forest officials to get monkeys sterilised and leave them in remote forest areas so that they could not damage the crops or be a threat to human life.

Shimla, November 17
The Centre for Mountain Dalit Rights Himachal Pradesh (CMDRHP) is organising a state-level public hearing, in collaboration with Childline - Dharamsala, Mandi and Nahan, on the issues of caste, gender, disability and class-based discrimination on December 9 at the YMCA, Shimla.

CMDRHP is a state-level facilitation group on the issues of civil, political, economic, land, livelihood resources and gender-based rights of Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, Dalits, women and children, Backward Castes, minorities and others who may be socially, economically and educationally backward, and affected by any type of oppression, inequality and discrimination which seeks to defend, protect and promote the rights of these excluded and marginalised groups.

Nurpur, November 17
The Jawali police have established the identity of the man whose body was recovered from Soldha forest late last evening. The policed found a written slip in the pocket of the deceased.

Jawali DSP DC Verma said Veena Devi, ward member of Soldha gram panchayat, had first spotted the body lying in the Dhar forest and intimated the police. The DSP, who rushed to the spot today, said the hand-written slip had identified him as Ashok Kumar (35), son of Budhi Singh of Kherian.

The family of the deceased had been called to identify the body kept in the civil hospital mortuary at Nurpur. A case under Section 174 of the CrPC has been lodged in this connection.

Meanwhile, the Nurpur police said a missing report had been lodged by the deceased’s parents after he had left the house suddenly.

Chamba, November 17
Residents of gram panchayats of Guilla and Janwas have urged the state government to construct a bridge across the Alwas stream.

At present, there is a locally made bridge of wooden logs to cross over the stream. It is the only bridge to link these areas with the rest of the district.— OC