Army raises park in deserted area
NURPUR, Oct 28 — Army personnel of 4 Infantry division have converted a deserted spot in the local historical Brijraj Stadium into a beautiful park as a noble gesture to foster cordial relations between the Army and the civilians in this region.

Top officials shifted
SHIMLA, Oct 28 — In an administrative reshuffle the Himachal Pradesh Government today appointed Kanwar Shamsher Singh as Financial Commissioner, PWD.

Students’ strike enter third day
KANGRA, Oct 28 — Students of MCM DAV College here today boycotted the examinations on the third day today.

Strike at cement factory ends
From Our Correspondent

BILASPUR, Oct 28 — The seven-day-old strike stopping entire cement loading work at ACC factory at Barmana, 18 km from here, ended yesterday peacefully. The HP State Ex-Servicemen Transport Union, which had launched this indefinite strike, started loading work. Peace and normalcy returned to Barmana once again after several days of confusion and confrontation.

Confirmed reports here said yesterday the union started announcing allotment of trucks for cement loading instead of this job being done by the ex-servicemen welfare corporation against whom the union was striking. The union was demanding that this work should be reallotted to the union.

The vice-president of the HP State Ex-Servicemen League, Major Shivram Sharma, who is also district president of the Himachal Vikas Congress, said cement loading was once again reallotted to this union by the corporation after a lapse of about four years as this job was forcibly taken from the union after a police lathi charge on November 15, 1994.

Major Sharma said this agreement was possible only after personal intervention of the Chief Minister, Prof Prem Kumar Dhumal, who authorised Health and Family Welfare Minister Jagat Prakash Nadda to settle the issue amicably between the corporation and the union.

Andamans of Nurpur in limbo
From Rajiv Mahajan

NURPUR: They live with difficulty. They are hapless but forced to lead their life with fortitude. They are the inhabitants of Maira polling booth of Hadal gram panchayat of this subdivision. Owing to the apathy of the state government towards basic amenities, the electorate of this polling booth boycotted the recent Lok Sabha poll.

The polling booth consists of five villages — Batrahn, Kayala, Bharnoee, Purana-Kayala and Maira. These villages are backward and called the Andamans of Nurpur. The villagers are sore over the absence of bus service which they had from 1980 to 1987. The approach road to these villages is kutcha. Due to non-completion of about 50 metres of road the Jassur-Suliali bus service which benefits these villages has been suspended for the past 12 years, causing a lot of inconvenience to the local populace.

Recently, the construction of this approach road has been proposed by means of a NABARD scheme. There is resentment over the slow progress of work on this road. At present, this road is even unfit for pedestrians.

The villagers are facing hardship on account of schooling for their wards. Even for primary education the kids have to walk 3-5 km. The students have to walk or travel 12 to 18 km to reach the nearest senior secondary schools at Nurpur and Suliali.

The population of these villages is about 700 and the number of voters on the electoral list is 421.

Natural calamities like landslides and soil erosion always beset the villagers in rainy season. Maira and Batrahn villages are situated on the banks of the Chakki khud. Hundreds of kanals of agricultural land of these villages have turned into barren land gradually due to soil erosion. A few years back the residents had borne the brunt of a landslide in which six houses collapsed and six persons had died on the spot. The residents of these tiny villages have living under the constant fear of a calamity.

In December 1996, the Kandi development project had formulated a soil conservation scheme for these villages. But it has been gathering dust in office files.

These villages are also sans telecommunication and postal services. As many as 25 applicants had deposited security for telephone connections but they have yet to get them.

Ashram lacks funds, not love
From Lalit Sharma

UNA: Mental retardation, considered a curse by parents as well as society, is no longer so, because with the development of science, many treatments have been devised to turn this curse into a blessing.

Since 1971, the international congregation of the Sisters of Charity of Jesus and Mary has been running Prem Ashram, a home for mentally retarded children here. The late Baba Madhusudan Singh Bedi, a descendant of Guru Nanak's family, donated land for the construction of this home. His own daughter's first child, a little boy called Buchie, was its first inmate.

In the early days only a few rich people could afford to send their handicapped children to this institute owing to lack of finance. But now, the sisters have started catering to the needs of poor people as Himachal Pradesh has adopted 20 mentally retarded children from poor families who pay full fees.

Prem Ashram initially taught mentally retarded children knitting, making of carpet and candles, cane work, etc. Today with financial assistance from the Indo-German Social Service Society, New Delhi, children are now trained in rabbitry, kitchen gardening, dairy and poultry farming and biogas maintenance. The mentally retarded children are busy with these occupations.

Sister Vandana, in charge of this institute, told this correspondent, that at present there were 52 inmates at this home, of which 16 were sponsored by the Himachal Pradesh Government. The institute was facing financial problems owing to the rising costs of living. It was not possible to demand more money from the parents by raising fees, as they were already spending more money on the handicapped child than on other members of the family.

She mentioned that although the state government had reserved 20 seats for poor children yet the government was slow to pay fees and the institute faced problems in meeting the home 's expenses, even on a no profit, no loss basis. Thus the institute had to find ways and means to meet the expenses when fees are not paid on time.

Sister Vandana also said the institute tried to contact local people for donations, but except for three or four parties, the response was not good. The sisters were keen on getting more donations so that the institute could also enrol a few more mentally retarded children whose families were facing financial problems.

With the arrival of Divali, the inmates of Prem Ashram are being kept busy. A candle-making unit, run by the institute for training children, makes candles for sale to the general public and selected shopkeepers.

Sister Joyce, who looks after this candle-making unit, said though the institute did not include electricity and labour charges in the cost of candles, it was difficult to sell these candles to shopkeepers. The candles were made from pure wax, supplied by the state government. Candles which shopkeepers brought from Delhi and elsewhere were made from wax mixed with these substances and therefore these were cheaper. Shopkeepers say that they find it difficult to explain to their customers that the candles made at Prem Ashram were of a superior quality — better than those available in the market.

This institute caters to the needs of mentally-retarded children of Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Jammu & Kashmir and other states.

Probe ordered into teachers' conduct
From Our Correspondent

CHAMBA, Oct — The state government has ordered an inquiry into the complaint lodged against five primary school teachers in Sinhuta block of Chamba district. The charge against them is that they are drink at at times while on duty in school.

The authorities of the Primary Education Department have been asked to submit the inquiry report within 20 days.

The official spokesman of the department has confirmed that these five teachers belonging to Sinhuta block in Chamba district have already been put under suspension on the complaints filed against them by some residents of the area.

Army raises park in deserted area
From Our Correspondent

NURPUR, Oct 28 — Army personnel of 4 Infantry division have converted a deserted spot in the local historical Brijraj Stadium into a beautiful park as a noble gesture to foster cordial relations between the Army and the civilians in this region.

Brig M.S. Ruhil, the officiating General Officer Commanding (GOC), 4 Infantry Division, while inaugurating this park, named Red Eagle Sadbhawna Sthal, yesterday said that the Army personnel who had visited this spot last month for training decided to do a noble deed for the citizens of the town.

He announced that a free medical camp would be organised here next week.

Mr N.K. Lath, the Subdivisional Magistrate, lauded the voluntary service rendered by the Army personnel to the civilians and hoped that the Sadhwana Sthal would always remain as a sweet memory of Army-civilian cooperation.

The Army personnel had developed this park on the deserted spot in a record time of three days.

Top officials shifted
Tribune News Service

SHIMLA, Oct 28 — In an administrative reshuffle the Himachal Pradesh Government today appointed Kanwar Shamsher Singh as Financial Commissioner, PWD. He is presently holding charge of the Tourism, Language, Art and Culture and Youth Services departments.

Mr Ajay Prasad, Financial Commissioner, Home, has been given additional charge of the Tourism and Language, Art and Culture departments.

Mr S Behuria, Commissioner-cum-Secretary, PWD, has been given charge of Transport, Youth Services and Sports.

The Department of Trainings and Foreign assignments has been taken from Mr Rajmani Tripathi and given to Mr Subhash Negi, Commissioner-cum-Secretary, Personnel, in addition to his own charge. The posting orders of Mr Tripathi will be issued separately.

Students’ strike enter third day
From Our Correspondent

KANGRA, Oct 28 — Students of MCM DAV College here today boycotted the examinations on the third day today.

They took out a procession and raised anti-administration slogans.

Meanwhile, the Principal of the college, Mr S.K. Sharma, claimed that 110 of the 598 students appeared in the examination. He said the examinations would be held as it was in the interests of the students.