Shimla, September 1
In a significant order, the High Court (HC) has banned animal sacrifices in religious places in the state.

Passing this order, a Division Bench comprising Justice Rajiv Sharma and Justice Sureshwar Thakur directed that no person would sacrifice any animal in any place of worship, including all lands and buildings near such places, or in any ceremony/yajna/ congregation or procession connected with any religious worship in a public street forthwith.

The court directed that no person would allow any sacrifice to be performed at any place and directed all Deputy Commissioners, Superintendents of Police, Sub-Divisional Officers and Station House Officers to comply with these directions.

The court passed this order on a petition wherein the issue of animal scarifies was raised by a petitioner. During the course of hearing, the court was informed that animal sacrifices were performed in temples of Nirmand and Anni in Kullu.

In Mandi district, devotees on the eve of Ashtmi and other religious occasions, such as God Dev, Kamru Nag, Kamaksha and other temples, sacrifice goats. In some temples in Rampur, Rohru, Kotkhai, Jhakri and Chirgaon, sheep and goats are offered to devtas. At Shillai in Sirmaur district, goats and sheep are slaughtered during the festival season.

Imposing the ban on animal scarifices, the court observed: “A startling revelation has been made the manner in which thousands of animals are sacrificed every year in the name of worship. Sacrifice causes immense pain and suffering to innocent animals. They cannot be permitted to be sacrificed to appease a god/deity in a barbaric manner. Compassion is a basic tenet in all religions. The practice of animal sacrifice is a social evil and required to be curbed”.

The Bench further observed: “It is in the grey area whether the animals sacrifice can be termed as religious practice or not. The faith, rituals and its continuation must change in the modern era. People are required to be sensitised on this issue by the government”.

New Delhi, September 1
The Himachal Government today withdrew its appeal against the High Court verdict directing the state to give a pay hike to non-gazetted judicial employees.

The state took the step after a Bench headed by Justice JS Khehar made it clear that no way it could be exempted from paying higher salaries as most states had already implemented the Shetty Commission recommendations from April 2003. At the maximum, the state could be allowed to pay the arrears in instalments, the apex court said.

Appearing for HP, senior advocate Rajeev Dhavan and Pragati Neekhra pleaded that the state’s financial position “is very precarious,” with the revenue deficit placed at Rs 3,262 crore and the fiscal deficit at Rs 5,350 crore.

The pay hike would place an additional burden of Rs 1 crore a year in respect of judicial employees alone and this would have a cascading effect as the state would be bound to offer matching increase to employees in other departments as well, Dhavan contended.

The Bench, however, noted that exempting Himachal Pradesh from the implementation of the commission’s recommendations would prompt other states seek similar relief, citing financial difficulties.

It also made it clear that it was not willing to accept the contention that the state’s finances were in such a mess preventing the government from taking an extra burden of just Rs 1 crore a year.

The state had come in appeal against the January 3, 2014, HC verdict striking down Section 3 of the HP Subordinate Courts Employees (Pay, Allowances and other Conditions of Service) Act, 2005, to the extent that it had overruled the SC directions on pay hike. The HC had directed the state to implement the pay hike from April 2003.

Solan, September 1
The Himachal Pradesh State Revenue Officers’ Association today gave a two-week ultimatum to the state government to enhance the honorarium being paid to revenue officers for doing additional work as sub-registrars from the existing Rs 200 to Rs 3,000 per month.

The decision was arrived at during a state-level meeting of the executive body of the association held under the chairmanship of state president Narayan Singh Chauhan, where it was decided that they would abstain from all works pertaining to the registration of sale and purchase deeds from September 15 if their demands were not met.

Other demands included enhancing the quota of tehsildars for promotion to the Himachal Administrative Services (HAS) should be enhanced from the existing 25 per cent to 35 per cent, provision of government vehicles for all tehsildars and creation of 42 posts of assistant commissioners (revenue).

The boycott of sub-registrars’ work will not only put on hold all registration works, but also hit generation of revenue worth crores to the state government from across the state.

While regretting the decision to boycott work in case their demands were not met, the association said the state government would be responsible for driving them to such an extreme action.

In 2006 the then Congress government had enhanced the quota of promotion for tehsildars to HAS to 30 per cent and also assured the cadre that it would be further enhanced to 35 per cent in the near future.

The quota was instead reduced to 27 per cent by the previous BJP government and the state further reduced it to 25 per cent as per a Cabinet decision on July 14.

The block development officers on the other hand have been allotted a quota of 17 per cent in exclusion unlike any other state in India. The association said this hasty decision had created a strong wave of displeasure and frustration among the cadre thereby compelling them to initiate protests across the state especially since they performed multifarious duties round-the-clock and were responsible for the implementation of major government policies at the grassroots level. 

Kullu, September 1
Fresh snowfall in the higher reaches of Kullu and Lahaul and Spiti and intermittent showers in the lower region since yesterday have lowered the temperature of the entire Kullu valley. After a 14-day spell of dry weather, rain has brought respite to agriculturists and farmers.

The higher reaches of Manali, including Dhundhi, Makarved, Shikarved, Hamta, Manalsu, Hanuman Tibba, Inderkila and other peaks, received the first snowfall of the season yesterday.

Shimla, September 1
Tourists and farmers transporting peas to Manali got stranded on both sides of the Koksar bailey bridge across the Chandra river in Lahaul today for nearly 12 hours.

BRO engineers claimed that the bridge was closed for traffic for maintenance work, but commuters told The Tribune that a few channels of the bridge had started sagging due to the movement of heavy vehicles moving towards Leh on the 473-km Manali-Leh highway.

The Koksar bridge in Lahaul. Tribune photo

The bridge has a 9-tonne carrying capacity, but locals said overloaded trucks start using it early morning thereby damaging it.

The Border Roads Organisation (BRO) restored the movement of light vehicles after 12 hours at around 4 pm, but the movement of heavy vehicles remained suspended, Lahaul residents said.

The uncertainty of the restoration of bridge for heavy vehicles has worried farmers and traders as their produce may rot in vehicles due to bright sun in the cold desert.

Prem Lal, a farmer, said: “The off-season vegetable harvesting season is at its peak in Lahaul. The pea is a perishable crop and transportation has been hit today as all trucks got stranded on the highway at Koksar.”

It is for the second time that the traffic has come to a halt on the Koksar-Keylong stretch due to the bridge problem.

Last week, another small bridge near Kuth Bihal, 2 km from Koksar, got damaged due to the flow in the surging nullah, a resident said.

A BRO engineer said: “We had restored the small bridge for traffic. The widening work on the stretch between Koksar and Patri Dhank and between Dalang and Tandi is on.”

Tourists, army vehicles and oil tankers on their way to Leh and Ladakh and civil supplies vehicles on their way to Keylong, Udaipur and Pangi were lined up on the highway since morning, officials said.

Keylong SDM Surjeet Rathaur said the BRO was making efforts to make the bridge fit for traffic. The BRO stopped the traffic as the bridge needed repair, he added. 

Shimla, September 1
Industries Minister Mukesh Agnihotri assured a delegation led by British Deputy High Commissioner David Lelliott today that Himachal provided sound industrial infrastructure, investor-friendly environment, uninterrupted power supply and a healthy climate for investors.

In an interaction with the delegation, Agnihotri said Himachal Pradesh offerred a pollution-free environment, industrial peace coupled with responsive administration and its general social parameters such as health and education are better than other states. The government, through its single widow clearance mechanism, grants approval for setting up of new projects within 90 days, he added.

The minister said the state has immense potential in sectors like tourism, biotechnology, horticulture, floriculture and food processing industries. Entrepreneurs could avail benefits of several in centives being provided by the government as a special category state, he added.

He informed the delegation that investment in biodegradable packaging and skill development programmes has good opportunities. The skill development is a flagship programme for providing trained manpower as per needs of the industry and Britain could help in providing skill upgrade technique to the youth, he said.

Agnihotri said the state government was organising an investment promotion meet in November this year to showcase the investment potential in the state.

Lelliott said there was an immense scope in investment in biodegradable packaging and agro food processing industries and technology transfer as per demand of the industries. A joint group could be formed for identifying possible areas in which entrepreneurs from Britain could invest, he said.

Principal Secretary Industries RD Dhiman briefed the delegation on various incentives being provided by the state government to the entrepreneurs. Director, BoD, SIDIC Gagan Kapoor, Director, Industries, Rajender Singh, Principal Advisor, Industries, Dr Rajender Chauhan and members of the British delegation attended the meeting. 

Mandi, September 1
As many as 17 cases of scrub typhus fever have so far been tested positive in the district.

District Programme Officer Dr Dinesh Kumar Thakur said 214 cases were reported from the district.

He said the figure was quite low as compared to last year, when 74 cases were tested positive.

He said medicines were available in all health centres of the district and there was no need to panic.

Medical Superintendent HK Abrol said people were being made aware of the spread of the disease in the district.

As a preventive measure, they had advised people to cover their body with clothes, he said.

The symptoms of the disease included high fever, severe stomach ache, irritation and swelling in the eyes, vomiting, and diarrhoea, he added.

Scrub typhus is an acute, febrile, infectitious illness that is caused by Orientia tsutsugamushi.

Shimla, September 1
The Congress today lashed out at BJP MP Anurag Thakur for raising the issue concerning Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh’s cases pending in the Delhi High Court.

Chairman of the State Marketing Board and state Congress spokesperson Subhash Manglet said the manner the BJP tried to raise the issue during the monsoon session and now again in the media, it appears that it had no faith in the law of the land. “It appears that the BJP has no patience to wait for the court verdict,” he said.

Manglet said BJP leaders must not indulge in mudslinging and try to tarnish the image of the Chief Minister by distorting facts to suit their convenience. He said in the past too, efforts were made by political detractors of Virbhadra to malign his image and implicate him in false cases but he had always come out clean.

He said the BJP leaders, who were feeling the heat of Vigilance inquiries, were trying to hit out at the Chief Minister by launching an attack on him while the court verdict was still awaited.

Shimla, September 1
The Himachal government will soon invite bids from global players for ropeway projects at six popular tourist destinations, including Naina Devi shrine.

The government had received a good response from 15 players who attended the pre-proposal conference held in Delhi last month. The final document is ready for inviting bids.

The six projects in Shimla, Maina Devi-Toba, Shah Talai-Deot Sidh, Himani Chamunda, Dharamsala-McLeodganj and Dharamkot-Triund are to be taken up under the private-public partnership (PPP) mode.

The bids for the Anandpur Sahib-Naina Devi ropeway, for which an MoU had been signed by Himachal with the Punjab Government and was later scrapped, will also be invited. Not keen to go ahead with the MoU signed with Punjab during the BJP regime, the Virbhadra regime had cancelled the MoU last year on the grounds that it was lopsided and Punjab stood to gain more. Now as per the new proposal, the ropeway will link Naina-Devi from Toba within Himachal.

Another important ropeway to be taken up is the one for Shimla with a span of 2.4 km. It will start from near the Tourist Information Centre near the bypass and connect Fir Hill Hotel and then to Inter-State Bus Terminus (ISBT) and then with the Lift on the Cart Road and finally near the Rani Jhansi Park. This ropeway is aimed at easing out the traffic on the Cart Road and provide easy accessibility with The Mall.

Himachal is keen to execute aerial ropeways to connect its popular tourist destinations, including many shrines, but most projects have failed to take off. Considering the positive response of private entrepreneurs, the government is hopeful that these projects will finally be awarded.

However, since the land will only be given out on licence and not leased out, it remains to be seen how keen private players are to invest huge sums of money. “The projects will be for 40 years with the first right being for the company which executes the project, so we are hopeful that these projects will attract good companies,” said a senior official.

However, projects such as Naina-Devi, Dharamkot-Triund and Himani Chamunda have been in the pipeline for several years. The ropeways will go a long way in promoting these places from tourism point of view. The government is keen to push the projects as these will help attract tourists and provide facility to tourists. 

Solan, September 1
A youth hailing from Kangra district died while he was repairing the lift of a hotel here last evening.

Victim Pawan Kumar was repairing a lift at Hotel Victoria Continental near Dharampur, when it accidentally got started while he was still working on it.

The police has registered a case under Sections 336 and 304-A of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), against the hotel management for indulging in an act which endangers human life and death due to negligence. Further inquiries are on.

Superintendent of Police Ramesh Chajta said as per preliminary inquiry, it was found that Pawan, along with one Shamsher Singh, were deputed to repair a lift at the said hotel at around 8 pm on Sunday evening, though none of them was conversant with its operations.

The hotel staff also failed to depute any person to ensure that while the lift was being repaired its use was disallowed. Someone accidentally operated the lift and Pawan, who was working on the second floor, fell on the ground. He sustained grievous injuries on his head and was pronounced dead by the medical officer at Dharampur where he was rushed for treatment. Pawan was working as a foreman at the hotel.

Shamsher Singh was working on the third floor of the lift. 

Nurpur, September 1
Vijay Dhiman, hailing from a lower middle-class family at Katholi village of Nagrota Surian development block in Jawali sub-division has brought laurels to lower Kangra by getting selected directly for the post of Sub Divisional Magistrate (SDM) after having secured the 7th rank in the HAS examination.

Vijay (39) attributes his success to his laborious efforts and blessings of his parents. His father is a farmer and his mother a homemaker. He completed his school and college studies from local state government educational institutions and did MSc from Panjab University, Chandigarh.

He had earlier cracked the HAS examination in 2008 and got selected as tehsildar in the Revenue Department. He then aimed for direct selection as SDM. After his previous selection, he joined as tehsildar in Bharmour in Chamba district in 2008. He is nowadays posted as tehsildar, Recovery, at Dharamsala. He said after his previous selection, he had started studying hard in the night with the active cooperation of his wife Poonam, who always supported him in his mission.

He said after his selection as SDM, his objective was to serve people and provide them speedy justice.

Una, September 1
Deputy Commissioner Abhishek Jain on Saturday expressed the need for strengthening women self-help groups (SHGs). These groups were formed by different rural development and welfare agencies in the district to boost rural economy and provide better livelihood opportunities to villagers.

Jain presided over a review meeting of the programmes being implemented by the District Rural Development Agency (DRDA).

He said a directory of all SHGs along with the details of their activities, products being made, addresses and contact numbers should be compiled and provided to government departments and non-government organisations.

“Women SHGs should be empowered and trained to be a part of all rural development works, including the watershed development activities which are being undertaken in all parts of the district,” he said.

He said Rs 51 crore was being spent during the current financial year in Una district for the development of 171 micro-watershed programmes.

“Una district has fragile soil topography as it falls in the lower Shiwalik belt of the Himalayas,” he said.

He said the objectives of the watershed programmes were to check soil erosion, increase percolation of rain water, increase vegetative cover on soil and create surface water bodies. “The involvement of rural women is a must. The concepts of good packaging, branding, labeling and marketing of agriculture produce should be taught to them,” he added.

He directed the officials to study the impact of the works undertaken earlier under various schemes before implementing new ones.

He said area specific and need driven changes should be incorporated into the activities with the change in time.

Rajesh Kumar Maria, Additional Deputy Commissioner, Chetna Khadwal, DRDA Project Officer, and block development officers from all five blocks were also present in the meeting. 

Mandi, September 1
Excise and Taxation Minister Prakash Chaudhary addressed 156 grievances during a camp at Kansa Chowk in the Balh Assembly constituency here today.

Nearly 190 people met him with their problems. Around 156 complaints were resolved on the spot.

The minister directed the officials concerned to resolve the remaining grievances within 15 days.

At the camp, nearly 150 certificates, relating to caste, income and domicile, were issued.

Addressing the gathering, the minister said the state government was committed to resolving people’s grievances. The motive of the camp was to save their time and money, he added.

Una, September 1
Deputy Commissioner (DC) Abhishek Jain has said a 390-km-long stone-pitched embankment, along the 73 tributaries of the Swan river, will be constructed by March 2017 under the ongoing Rs 922-crore Swan river tributaries flood protection project.

The DC stated this during a meet-the-press programme, which was organised by the Information and Public Relations Department here on Friday. He said about 7,500 hectares of land adjoining the tributaries would be saved from annual floods during monsoon.

“During the current financial year, a sum of Rs 308 crore will be spent in the project to create a 137-km-long embankment,” he said.

He said tenders for works amounting to Rs 120 crore had already been awarded.

NM Saini, superintending engineer of the project, said the works were being processed as per the stringent guidelines of the Central Vigilance Commission and expert agencies like Central Water Commission, Delhi, Central Water and Power Research Institute, Pune, Central Soil and Material Research Centre, Delhi, IIT Delhi and NIT Hamirpur, were directly involved in monitoring the project, including the quality control.

He said at the state-level the HP Swan River Channelisation Authority was monitoring the project implementation under the chairmanship of Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh.

Reacting to reports that illegally mined material was being used for embankments, Saini said all the mining norms were being fulfilled and the project was depositing royalty amounting to Rs 89.40 per cubic metre for stone and Rs 64 per cubic metre for soil and sand, to the state Mining Department.

He said the contractors were bringing stone from Kiratpur Sahib, Pathankot and Jammu and Kashmir.

Saini said the 4-km stretch of the river downstream Santoshgarh bridge till Punjab boundary, estimated at Rs 55 crore, had been given the NOC by the Punjab Government. The project was likely to get financial approval of the Union Government.

Shimla, September 1
The Union Ministry of Culture has approved a Rs 45-crore Indian Institute Baudh Darshan (IIBD) at the ancient Buddhist monastery of Tabo in the tribal district of Lahaul and Spiti.

This was revealed by Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh here today. Tabo monastery, situated in Lahaul and Spiti, has been a centre for the study of Buddhist philosophy and tribal culture since its inception in 996 AD.

He said to preserve the ancient seat of Buddhist Studies at Tabo, the Ministry of Culture, Government of India (GoI) had agreed in principle to establish the Indian Institute Baudh Darshan (IIBD) at Tabo.

“Tabo has evolved as an important centre of learning and setting up of the IIBD will further bring the state on the international map and help scholars and academicians pursue higher studies on Buddhist literature,” the Chief Minister said.

The Chief Minister said land measuring around 30 acres at Mohal Dhaang Chummi had been cleared by the Centre and necessary clearances from the Forest Department were being obtained. The land would soon be transferred in the name of the Union Ministry of Culture for setting up the institute. The project cost was Rs 45 crore and would be fully funded by the Government of India, he added.

The case has been held up since 2011 due to a site-related issue. The Centre has finally accepted a recommendation of the state government in this connection. “It will serve the monks and students, not only from remote areas of Lahaul-Spiti and Kinnaur, but also learned scholars from far and wide and help in preserving the ancient seat of Buddhist studies,” said the Chief Minister.

“Declared as protected by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), Tabo Gompa houses some of the oldest and most exquisite Buddhist murals and antique paintings, even from the 11th century,” said Virbhadra.

Shimla, September 1
Intensifying the agitation to press the demand for rollback of fee hike and immediate holding of direct elections to Students Central Associations (SCA) elections in Himachal Pradesh University and 100-odd affiliated colleges, members of Students Federation of India (SFI) today took out a protest march and gheraoed the state Secretariat.

A delegation of protesting SFI members handed over a memorandum to the Chief Minister. They apprised him about the “anti-student” decisions being implemented by the university authorities.

In response to a call by the SFI state committee, the members gathered near the Secretariat to lodge their protest and alleged that the situation in the university has gone from bad to worse during the term of the present Vice-Chancellor ADN Bajpai. They demanded appointment of a regular Vice-Chancellor as the term of Professor Bajpai has expired and he is on ad hoc extension.

Calling the decision to hike the fee as “anti-poor”, the SFI claimed it would deprive poor people of access to higher education, which could then become a monopoly of students with rich economic background.

Manish Sharma, state secretary, SFI, accused the VC of deliberately deferring the SCA elections for a year and mooting the idea of a nominated student body to muzzle the voice of SCA which is spearheading the agitation and keeping the university authorities on toes.

He said the SFI is also opposing implementation of RUSA in haste without proper preparation and increasing the staff strength, which has created an academic chaos in the university and colleges, resulting in inordinate delay in declaration of results.

The students were already up in arms against the implementation of RUSA, but instead of resolving the issue, the university took controversial decisions to hike the fees, he said. It deprived students of their democratic right by deferring the elections to the SCA, adding insult to injury, said Manish.

Dismissing the plea that the SCA elections triggered violence as untenable, the SFI said the worst type of violence took place in elections to the Lok Sabha and Assemblies, but no government had come out with a proposal to defer the polls.

Deferring elections on the pretext of violence was a part of a larger plan of the university and the government to have nominated student bodies which did not represent the students, he stated.

SFI state president Suresh Sarwal said the university had forced the students to come out on the streets and the SFI would hold statewide rallies through main markets on September 2. Meanwhile, the chain hunger strike by the students on the university campus entered its third day today.

Palampur, September 1
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) criticised Vice-Chancellor, HP Agriculture University (HPAU), Palampur, for including the name of Congress leader in the university’s foreign delegation that left for Mangolia on Saturday.

Himansu Misra senior BJP leader and BJP spokesperson, while addressing mediapersons here said: “The HPAU is passing through a serious financial crisis and has failed to release the pensions of its 800 employees and the matter is pending before the state High Court. On the other hand Vice-Chancellor Dr KK Katoch is misusing the hard-earned money of tax payers by sending Congress leader on foreign trips at the university’s expense.”

He said the VC had included Congress leader Kewal Singh Pathania in the foreign delegation to visit the Agriculture University of Mangolia. Misra said: “Pathania is neither a scientist nor a farmer. What is the justification in sending him on a foreign trip that too at the university’s expense?”

He said it was a serious matter and the government should initiate action against the VC. He said uncertainty prevailed over the continuance of Katoch as the VC, therefore he was pleasing Congress leaders by sending them on foreign trips.

He reminded the university authorities that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had imposed a ban on foreign visits of Union ministers and senior bureaucrats without the approval of the PMO but the VC was openly flouting the recent directions of the Union government.

Misra asked Governor Urmila Singh who was also the Chancellor of the university to intervene and recover the cost of the entire visit from the VC.

He said he had written to the Union Agriculture Minister in this regard and demanded action against the VC.

Shimla, September 1
The Himachal Pradesh School DPE (Diploma in Physical Education) Association has urged the state government to treat physical education teachers with one year degree in physical education (DPEd) and one year masters in physical education (MPED) on parity with those with two years MPEd.

The DPEs have acquired DPEd degree after graduation and thereafter got admission in the second year of MPEd degree course. Practically, the candidates have completed two years degree before completing MPEd, president of the association Dinesh Ghaghta said.

Citing the example of Punjabi University, Patiala, he said the candidates are given admission in the first year of MPEd after graduation and the candidates who have completed graduation and DPEd are given admission in the second year of MPED. This is also notified in the calendar of 1975, 1981 and 1995 of Punjabi University, he said.

Moreover, the candidates who have acquired MPEd degree before 1997 prior to the NCTE norms prescribing two years MPED course for PG/Lecturer physical education coming into force in 2001 are at a loss, it was stated.

He said degrees of the candidates who passed MA in physical education (MAPE) from Himachal Pradesh are treated as equivalent to MPEd for purpose of employment and release of higher scales, though there is no mention of the MA physical education degree in the NCTE norms.

Former president of the association Lalit Chauhan said it has been made clear by the HPU that course content of the first year of MA physical education and DPED is similar and the course content of second year of MA physical education of HPU is similar to that of MPED of Kurukshetra University. There is no doubt that the MPED degree obtained by candidates with DPED after getting entry in the second year of MPED is completely in consonance with the NCTE norms, it was further stated.

He said candidates with one year DPED and one year MPED are being appointed as assistant professors in colleges, but unfortunately, those employed with the schools are not getting the grade pay of Rs 5,400.

Further, B Ed teachers get M Ed degree after one year course and post-graduate diploma holders in Mass Communication get Masters degree after one-year course. DPEDs who seek admission in second year of MPED should be treated likewise, he added.

Una, September 1
The administration has accorded its approval for the transfer of 30-kanal plot of land at Rampur village adjoining the Una district headquarters to the Union Labour and Employment Department for constructing a state-level Vocational Rehabilitation Centre (VRC) for people with disabilities.

Disclosing this, Deputy Commissioner Abhishek Jain on Friday said: “The centre is the only one of its kind in the state where people with disabilities receive free vocational training in various trades and also get placement assistance.”

The centre became functional in August 2005 in Una from a dilapidated building provided by the state government. VRC authorities had been pursuing for the allocation of land since it had funds for the construction of its own building.

The DC said some technical hitches were responsible for the delay in finalising the land allocation process.

The centre presently has five trades, including general electronics, computer applications, dress making, general mechanics and automobile technology, but three of these are presently suspended due to the reason that the present building had been declared unsafe by the Public Works Department.

Jain said: “The Revenue Department has completed all formalities for the transfer of land. The no-objection certificate from the host panchayat has been received and the case has been forwarded to the state government for approval.”

He said a sum of Rs 15 crore would be spent for the construction of the building, which would be handicap friendly.