HPU convocation not held for 4 years
SHIMLA, May 10 — Mr Subhash Puri, member of the Executive Council of Himachal Pradesh University, and Mr Waryam Singh Bains, member of the university court, today called on the Governor, Mrs V.S. Rama Devi, and brought to her notice instances violation of the university's statutes.

Karan denies charge on Banjar area
SHIMLA, May 10 — Mr Karan Singh Himachal Minister of State for Primary Education, has ridiculed the statement of Mr Satya Prakash Thakur, a former minister, in which he had alleged that the present government was neglecting the Banjar constituency.

Rain breaks dry spell
SHIMLA, May 10 — Intermittent rain over the past 24 hours broke the prolonged dry spell which had created drought-like conditions in the state.

Students’ strike called off
SHIMLA, May 10 — The nearly 20-day-old strike of students of the privately-run engineering college at Kala-Amb was called off today.

• HP decision on grazing fields

HP waives revenue of drought-hit
Tribune News Service

SHIMLA, May 10 — The Himachal government today ordered waiving of land revenue for the rabi and fruit crop badly damaged due to the unprecedented drought in the state.

The decision was taken at a meeting of the Cabinet presided by the Chief Minister, Mr P.K. Dhumal. Land revenue remission will be applicable in the entire state, except the districts of Lahaul-Spiti and Kinnaur.

Briefing reporters about the Cabinet decision, the Chief Secretary, Mr A.K. Goswami, said relief to the farmers had been given in view of the loss suffered by them due to the drought.

He said that the Cabinet decided to simplify the procedure for acquiring land for those entrepreneurs who come here for investing in industry, tourism and power sector.

A time frame of three weeks has been fixed for clearing the papers for acquiring land. The district collector and the revenue secretariat have been given 10 days each to clear these papers. The authorities have also been ordered to raise objections in one go and not seek clarifications one by one. Condition of Himachal residence has been dispensed with.

Mr Goswami said that it was decided to make 3 per cent reservation in government jobs for outstanding sportsmen. Medal winners at national and international level will be recruited direct.

Three per cent reservation will be available for class III and IV jobs in all government departments. However, reservation for class I and Class II jobs has been made only in the Departments of Youth Services, Institute of Mountaineering, Education Department and Home Guards.

He said it was decided to provide Punjabi teachers in such schools where at least 20 students were willing to learn the language in classes VI to VIII.

It was decided to rename after Guru Gobind Singh the college at Paonta Sahib, senior secondary school and middle school at Gurplah in the Una district.

Mr Goswami said that it was decided to rationalise the composite fee for national permit trucks and tourist buses. The fee will be deposited a one single point.

The decision to rationalise the composite fee was taken at a recent meeting of Chief Ministers of Northern states. It was also recommended by the Transport Council of India.

A centrally financed scheme for developing herbal gardens will be launched in Chamba, Kulu and Kangra districts. Wasteland will be developed as herbal gardens.

Probe into forest fires sought
Tribune News Service

SHIMLA, May 10 — Mr Rajeshwar Negi, President of the Minorities and Social Welfare Parishad, has demanded a judicial probe to ascertain the cause of the unprecedented forest fires in the state and expose the lapses in their prevention and control by the Forest Department.

Addressing a press conference here today, he alleged that the forest mafia, engaged in illicit timber trade, and mining contractors were behind a majority of these fires and only in an in depth inquiry by a sitting judge of the high court could bring the culprits to book. While forests spread over lakhs of hectares had been destroyed over the past 15 years, not a single person had been apprehended.

Mr Negi accused the Forest Department of disregarding protection measures and demanded a white paper on the utilisation of the special central assistance of Rs 3.5 crore received by the state for the implementation of preventive measures in 1995.

Forest fires should be declared a natural calamity and services of civil defence, police, NSS and NCC volunteers should be requisitioned for combating them, he demanded.

The government should set up an integrated forest management authority to evolve an ecological crisis management plan and suggest specific measures to prevent and control forest fires. The state should also set up a fire research and forecasting system.

To create awareness among people regarding forest fires, a statewide campaign should be launched. Besides an army of villagers, like the Territorial army, should be equipped and trained to combat forest fires.

IMF policies not in our interest: Dhumal
From Romesh Dutt
Tribune News Service

PARWANOO (Solan), May 10 — Chief Minister Mr P.K. Dhumal, said here today that the country's myriad, poverty related problems could never by solved by following the diktat of alien agencies like the IMF and the World Bank.

Mr Dhumal, who presided by over the annual function of the Parwanoo Kalka chapter of Bharat Vikas Parishad, said that the key to the country's prosperity lay in adopting ancient Indian socio-economic thought evolved over a span of over 5,000 years of experimentation and intimate knowledge of indigenous needs and aspirations.

He said the need of the hour was the restoration of India's pride and self-confidence. Unless these two were achieved, we would never to able to address our national problems correctly.

Mr Dhumal criticised a section of the press for carrying reports of attacks on a particular community recently. He quoted a foreign scribe who had castigated the Indian press for widely publicising the burning of a priest and his two sons in Orissa sometimes back by simply asking "where was this press when hundreds of innocent persons were being murdered in cold blood every lay in Punjab and Jammu & Kashmir".

The Chief Minister congratulated Bharat Vikas Parishad for starting such laudable projects like providing of artificial limbs and eye donations. Referring to local problems, he said that in future no green belt would be allotted for housing or other purposes. He also promised to ensure that the township of Parwanoo was developed as per its status as the gateway of Himachal Pradesh.

Mr Jitendra Vir Gupta, a retired Chief Justice of the Punjab and Haryana High Court and vice-president of Bharat Vikas Parishad regretted that real freedom had eluded the nation even after over 50 years of political freedom.

The traditional Indian socio-political thought revolved around the concept that the whole world was a family unlike the western thought which treated the whole world as a market place.

HPU convocation not held for 4 years
Tribune News Service

SHIMLA, May 10 — Mr Subhash Puri, member of the Executive Council of Himachal Pradesh University (HPU), and Mr Waryam Singh Bains, member of the university court, today called on the Governor, Mrs V.S. Rama Devi, and brought to her notice instances violation of the university's statutes.

They submitted separate memorandums to the Governor highlighting the problems being faced by the employees of the varsity.

They pointed out that the convocation of the university had not been held for the past over four years. The meeting of the university court had also been convened for the past two years although the statute provided that the court shall meet at least once a year.

They informed the Governor that although the rules provided that the Executive Council shall meet every month, meeting had been convened for the past over two months. Only two meetings of the executive council were held last year.

Mr Puri and Mr Bains urged the Governor to wind up the Audit Department of the varsity on which a sum of about Rs 25 lakh was being 'wasted' every year.

The university's six prestigious chairs — Dr Y.S Parmar, Dr B.R. Ambedkar, Dr Deen Dayal Upadhaya, Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose, Mohan Dass Karam Chand Gandhi and Swami Dayanand — were non-functional and the annual grant of Rs 3 lakh for each of them was lapsing every year, they claimed.

They demanded that a one-time grant of Rs 2 crore should be released for executing construction works on the campus. They also demanded that a seven-member committee should be appointed to inquire into the functioning of the privately run engineering college at Kala-Amb, where the students were on strike for over 20 days.

During the past 29 years, no steps had been taken for developing the campus or providing accommodation to students, employees and offices. Lifts had not been installed in the library building.

Recommendations of various committees appointed by the Executive Council had not been implemented.

Karan denies charge on Banjar area
Tribune News Service

SHIMLA, May 10 — Mr Karan Singh Himachal Minister of State for Primary Education, has ridiculed the statement of Mr Satya Prakash Thakur, a former minister, in which he had alleged that the present government was neglecting the Banjar constituency.

Terming the charge as politically motivated, Mr Karan Singh asserted that the present government was giving top priority to the development of backward areas like Banjar, where a number of projects had been launched.

He said that work on 86 mw power project at Malana was in full swing and it would be completed in record period of two and a half years instead of four years as originally scheduled. He said that road to Malana was being constructed on priority and it would be completed soon. He further said that during the Congress regime, the Malana project was in dormancy and Larji project circle was shifted to Ghanvi. It was at the initiative of the present government that Rs 21 crore was released to speed up work on Larji project.

He said that the 2051 MW Parvati hydel power project, the second biggest in Asia, which had been hanging fire for decades was also being taken up due to the efforts of Mr Prem Kumar Dhumal, Chief Minister who had entrusted it to the NHPC. The foundation-stone of the project would be laid by the Prime Minister very shortly, he added.

The minister said that the government had announced the opening of a degree college at Banjar and a circle of the state Electricity Board had already been opened. He added that a 50-bedded hospital had been sanctioned and a bus stand was under construction.

Mr Karan Singh said that the state government was aware of the prevailing drought like situation in the state and effective steps were being taken. A sum of Rs 4.34 crore had already been released to Deputy Commissioners to meet the situation. Besides hand pumps were also being installed in the state.

Rain breaks dry spell
Tribune News Service

SHIMLA, May 10 — Intermittent rain over the past 24 hours broke the prolonged dry spell which had created drought-like conditions in the state.

Accompanied with strong winds, the rain provided much relief to the people from the sweltering heat and helped in dousing forest fires raging in the state since the past month.

Showers lashed the town and the surrounding areas for about an hour, causing the mercury to dip sharply. Tourists and locals were forced to take out woollens.

Reports of rain have also been received from parts of Solan, Mandi, Kangra and Bilaspur districts. The showers, though mild, are considered beneficial for the apple crop, which had started withering.

Students’ strike called off
Tribune News Service

SHIMLA, May 10 — The nearly 20-day-old strike of students of the privately-run engineering college at Kala-Amb was called off today.

The decision to call off the strike was taken following a meeting of leaders of the students with the Vice-Chancellor of Himachal Pradesh University.

It was decided that the examinations would be held around June 10, the college management would be asked to recruit the teaching staff as per the norms of the AICTE and three supplementary chances would be provided to the students on the pattern of Regional Engineering College, Hamirpur.

HP decision on grazing fields

SHIMLA, May 10 (UNI) — The Himachal Pradesh Government today decided to provide grazing fields to Gaddis and Gujjars on the recommendations of the committee set up in this regard.

A decision to this effect was taken at a high-level meeting presided over here by Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal.