City page for Feb 4

WEATHER

Forecast (February 4): Weather will remain dry in plains and low hills, rain and snow at isolated places in middle and high hills.

Temperatures:

Shimla: 12.6 (max), 6.8 (min) Degrees Celsius, Sunrise: 7:12 am, sunset: 5:59 pm

Dharamshala: 14.4 (max), 4.8 (min) Degrees Celsius

Manali: 9.0 (max), minus 0.6 (min) Degrees Celsius

READERS’ SAY

Rampant illegal mining (Pix)

Illegal mining is going on unchecked at Biarghatta near Thural in gross violation of rules. The land involved in mining belongs to the Forest Department and is not leased out for mining by the state government. The mining mafia in the area has flourished under the shelter of local leaders. The mining department looks helpless in initiating action against the culprits who have been causing loss in lakhs daily to the state exchequer. The government must act and punish the culprits. — Mukesh Kumar, Thural

Need for crash barriers

A terrible accident a few days back near Sankat Mochan in Shimla, in which a newly wed couple died, reinforced the need to have crash barriers on the road. The ill-fated couple would have probably survived the accident if the road had a crash barrier at that point – Rajat Chauhan, Shimla

Education Notes

Five-day NCC camp begins (Pix)

The 7 HP (I) COY has started a five-day camp for college students. As many as 85 cadets, including both boys and girls, from different colleges of Shimla are taking part in the camp. Commanding Officer Col. Suneet Sangta inaugurated the camp and interacted with the cadets. He spoke to them about maintaining discipline and distance during the camp and what they would learn in the camp.

Sack VC, Dean of Studies: NSUI

The NSUI has demanded the resignation of HPU Vice Chancellor and Dean of Studies after the Supreme Court also held the decision to grant admission through merit instead of entrance exams. The High Court had already declared the decision illegal and had asked HPU executive council to take action in this matter. “Now, since the Supreme Court, too, has held the decision illegal, the government must sack the VC and the Dean of Studies with immediate effect,” said NSUI state president Chhatar Singh. The NSUI also demanded a judicial inquiry into the allegations of corruption in the appointment of teaching faculty in the university.

Speed up inquiry: ABVP

While welcoming the ED action against the Manav Bharti University a few days back, the ABVP demanded action against all private universities which have been accused of corruption and selling degrees. ABVP’s Vishal Verma said such universities were a blot on the education system. The ABVP said the SIT constituted to end corruption in private universities should speed up its inquiry and all those indulging in wrong practices be punished sternly.

Nurpur student brings laurels

Samayra, a Class IX student of Noorpur Public Schoool, Nurpur, secured the first position in the state-level 28th Children Science Congress in Scientific Survey Report. The event was organised online by HIMCOSTE from January 28 to 30. She will now represent Himachal Pradesh in the National Children Science Congress. Arvind Dogra, the managing director of the school, felicitated Samayra for her performance.