Volunteer teachers go on fast
HAMIRPUR, March 7 — Eleventh two-member batch of the HP Secondary Volunteer Teachers Association sat on 24-hour relay fast at the Gandhi Chowk today in support of its demands.

SDM recommends paper cancellation
SHIMLA, March 7 — Mr B.R. Kaundal, SDM of Chopal, has recommended the cancellation of the political science paper of the plus two examination at the Senior Secondary School, Nerwa, centre in view of mass copying.

Rs 1 crore land grab, guilty still not booked
From Our Correspondent

NURPUR, March 7 — The Rs 1 crore land grab in urban area of Nurpur town which rocked Himachal Pradesh a few years back is still awaiting action against erring officials found guilty of the Land Settlement Department following a high-level probe ordered by the previous government. The land grab came to light in 1993 when certain persons started selling the prime government land at exorbitant price and construction started thereon.

The issue was also raised in the state Vidhan Sabha in 1993. As follow-up the government suspended the field staff for a few months and did not take any action against the senior officials of the Settlement Department who allegedly had tampered with the government record and transferred the valuable land to certain individuals. It is surprising these officials were even rewarded with promotions during the previous Virbhadra Singh Government.

The Settlement Collector, Kangra, when he was the Divisional Commissioner found that the land-grabbers in connivance with the officials of Settlement Department got ownership entries changed by introducing fake witnesses. In a few cases the witnesses had died years before their testimony dates mentioned. As a sequel, Settlement Collector ordered reversion of ownership of six plots of prime land (Khasra numbers 4121, 2302 and 2304 of Rampuri Estate and Khasra numbers 283, 281 and 314 of Swaragasharam Estate.

It is surprising the government did neither take any action against the officials found guilty nor did it remove the encroachment by the land grab mafia on the land virtually restored to the State Government, it only emboldened mafia. The local Town Welfare Committee which had highlighted this racket at that time has urged the Chief Minister, Mr Prem Kumar Dhumal to order registration of cases of all those found guilty of land grab during the previous regime. The Welfare Committee demanded the removal of encroachments on the land ownership of which had been restored to the government and order a probe so that the rights to use the land could be restored to the residents who were deprived of the same by mafia.

The residents and social organisations have demanded the review of files of Khasra numbers 195, 275 of Chaugan and 819, 820 of Rampuri Estates which had been held in abeyance by the Settlement Department in 1993.

Parishad demands national job
guarantee scheme
Tribune News Service

SHIMLA, March 7 — The Minorities and Social Welfare Parishad has expressed concern over increasing unemployment and urged the government to set up a national finance corporation to provide easy loans to youth for self-employment ventures.

The parishad, which met here under the chairmanship of Mr Rajeshwar Negi, its president, demanded that the right to employment should be made a Fundamental Right and a national employment guarantee scheme should be formulated to provide jobs to educated youth. Those who failed to get employment under the scheme should be given an allowance of Rs 1,000 per month.

It urged the government to reduce the retirement age to 55 years to help create employment opportunities which had been squeezed due to disinvestment in public sector undertakings and industrial recession. It also demanded that 75 per cent of the posts in all services should be filled through direct recruitment.

The other demands included the creation of an all-India judicial service, no further disinvestment in public sector undertakings and restoration of the 10 per cent cut imposed in recruitment to civil services.

Volunteer teachers go on fast
From Our Correspondent

HAMIRPUR, March 7 — Eleventh two-member batch of the HP Secondary Volunteer Teachers Association sat on 24-hour relay fast at the Gandhi Chowk today in support of its demands. The teachers have been demanding the regularisation of their services and implementation of equal pay for equal work norm.

Mr Ramesh Ranaut, and Mr Pranen Sharma, President and General Secretary, respectively of the association claimed here today that the agitation was gaining momentum day by day. They said that the attitude of the state government was not co-operative and they were forced to adopt the agitational path.

They blamed officers of the Department of Education for not presenting a "real" picture of their agitation to the government. They lamented that the Education Minister, Mr Ishwar Dass Dhiman, who had signed on agreement with them last year and said nothing about them so far. It was a betrayal of strike by Mr Dhiman.

The striking teacher leaders announced that they would shift their agitation venue from Hamirpur to Shimla from March 10. Two leaders of the sangh would go on indefinite fast from March 10. A state-level rally will also be held at Shimla on the day.

SDM recommends paper cancellation
Tribune News Service

SHIMLA, March 7 — Mr B.R. Kaundal, SDM of Chopal, has recommended the cancellation of the political science paper of the plus two examination at the Senior Secondary School, Nerwa, centre in view of mass copying.

Mr Kaundal raided the centre along with a team of the Education Board and caught red-handed an invigilator while he was helping students in copying. A case has been registered against the invigilator under the Prevention of Copying and Other Malpractices in Examinations Act. He also recommended that the entire invigilation staff of the centre should be replaced and disciplinary action initiated against the guilty.

The team also raided the examination centre at Chopal and detected 12 cases of unfair means.