Bad highway affects tourism
SHIMLA, Aug 14 — Bad condition of the Hindustan-Tibet highway has hit tourism in the Buddhist circuit consisting of the tribal districts of Kinnaur and Lahaul-Spiti.The highway has remained closed at one place or the other during the past two years hitting tourist traffic.

Rama Devi presents medals
SHIMLA, Aug 14 — Mrs V.S. Rama Devi, the Governor, presented medals to five police officers, two fire service officers, two home guard and civil defence personnel and six civilians for meritorious services and acts of bravery at an impressive investiture ceremony held at Raj Bhavan here today.

Plea to screen HP ‘madarsas’
SHIMLA, Aug 14 — Mr Madhukar, general secretary of the Himachal Vikas Congress, has demanded that all "madrasas" in Himachal should be screened in view of the massacre of 35 innocent persons in Chamba by Kashmiri militants.

Withdraw directions on posting: rangers
DHARAMSALA, Aug 14 — The Himachal Forest Rangers Association has demanded the withdrawal of directions issued by the Congress government regarding posting rangers within their home division.

Poor bus service in Chopal area

Bad highway affects tourism
From S.P. Sharma
Tribune News Service

SHIMLA, Aug 14 — Bad condition of the Hindustan-Tibet highway has hit tourism in the Buddhist circuit consisting of the tribal districts of Kinnaur and Lahaul-Spiti.

The highway has remained closed at one place or the other during the past two years hitting tourist traffic.

The Buddhist circuit, which was introduced with much fanfare by the authorities about six years ago in 1992, has failed to pick up on the expected lines due to the lack of infrastructure and bad condition of roads.

The trans-Himalayan Buddhist area of Kinnaur, Spiti and Lahaul has a rich treasure of monasteries which have remained out of bounds for tourists all these years and have been practically in isolation.These include Tabo, which is also called as the Ajanta of Himalayas, Dhankar Ki, Mud, Gungri, Lidang, Hikim, Sagnam, Mane Gogma, Giu, Dhankar, Tupchiling, Lapchang, Kardang, Morang and Nako.

The condition of the roads has become so bad that landslips have become very frequent at times upsetting the itinerary of foreign tourists to these monasteries which are a feast for the eyes.

The highway has again got closed at two places, Wangtu and Malling nullah, due to landslides now when foreign tourists had started arriving here. Restoration of the road at Malling is expected to take about a fortnight.The road had remained closed for almost 10 months following a flash flood which washed away the bridge at Wangtu and damaged the highway at many places last year. It was reopened only about two months ago.

The Buddhist circuit was introduced after the lifting of restrictions on the movement of outsiders in the "inner line"of the Spiti and Kinnaur areas in December 1991 and it was expected that a large number of tourists would be attracted to the land which had remained out of bounds for them all these years. However, the expectations have been belied.

Not a fraction of the expected number of foreign tourists visited the magnificent cave monastery of Tabo during its millennium celebrations two years ago as the highway remained mostly blocked at various places during the period.The tariff for helicopter flights to Tabo was also fixed exorbitantly and not a single seat was sold.

Certain private travel agents claim that they were organising tours of foreigners to the circuit at their own initiative without any worthwhile backup from the state government.

A group of top travel organisers,who visited the area sometime ago, were critical of lack of infrastructure and the bad condition of roads.

A travel agent said that the circuit had picked up initially, but it has received a setback as not many tourists would visit there now as the condition of the roads was uncertain. Many a times foreign tourists missed their return flight from Delhi as they got stuck up due to landslides.

At times the foreign tourists have changed their itinerary and directly flown to Leh from Delhi to see the monasteries instead of coming to Himachal Pradesh.
Construction of hydroelectric projects in the Rampur and Kinnaur areas has also led to blockade of the road many times due to blasting of rocks. This had created a number of landslides in the area.

Fake freedom fighters' racket unearthed
From Our Correspondent

BILASPUR, Aug 14 — Unearthing a racket involving fake "freedom fighters" certificates under forged signatures of the former Deputy Superintendent of Police before Independence, the police here has succeeded in locating at least two fake "freedom fighters" at the instance of another so-called freedom fighter involved in getting commissions of Rs 7000 and Rs 5000, respectively, for issuing fake certificates claiming falsely that these persons participated in the freedom movement.

A police officer told mediapersons here today that a case was registered against Narottam Dutt Shashtri (Bilaspur) and Tulsi Ram (Jerak village) at Barmana police station near here on the directions of the Central Government and the Financial Commissioner, Himachal Government and it has been found that Tulsi Ram was provided a false certificate issued by DSP Kartar Singh saying Tulsi Ram was a freedom fighter. Whereas Tulsi Ram, on being arrested, admitted that he never participated in the freedom movement. He said, this certificate was provided to him by so-called freedom fighter Narottam Dutt Shashtri after he paid Rs 7000 to Shashtri for the certificate.

A police spokesman said Tulsi Ram was arrested under Sections 420, 468 and 471, IPC, while Shashtri got anticipatory bail and was ordered by the court to be released on bail on furnishing personal bond of Rs 3000 with a surety of the like amount.

The police said signatures of DSP Kartar Singh on the certificate were found by experts as fake and forged.

The police spokesman said witnesses had proved conclusively that Tulsi Ram was never a freedom fighter and he had supplied false certificates of being a freedom fighter for getting pension.

He said the police investigation in the case was complete and the challan would be presented in the court soon.

Rama Devi presents medals
Tribune News Service

SHIMLA, Aug 14 — Mrs V.S. Rama Devi, the Governor, presented medals to five police officers, two fire service officers, two home guard and civil defence personnel and six civilians for meritorious services and acts of bravery at an impressive investiture ceremony held at Raj Bhavan here today.

Mr A.K. Puri, Additional Director General of Police (CID) was decorated with the President's Police Medal for distinguished service.

Police Medals for meritorious service were presented to Kashmir Singh Rana, DIG, South Zone, Shimla, Mr Jagjit Kumar, SP, Hamirpur, Mr Kishori Lal, inspector, Hamirpur and Mr Govind Ram, Head Constable, Kulu.

The Governor presented civil defence medals for meritorious service to Mr Virendra Singh Pal, Commandant and Mr Kameshwar Dutt Sharma (retd) Platoon Commander.

The fire services medals for meritorious service were presented to Mr Ram Pal Sharma, Sub-Fire Officer, Baddi and Mr Balwinder Singh Mahal, Sub-Fire Officer, Dharamsala.

Mr Mehar Chand Thakur of village Vashishtha in Kulu, Mr Girdhari Lal, Mr Kalyan Singh and Mr Praveen Singh all residents of village Pandeho, Jaisinghpur in Kangra district, Mr Inder Singh Dhatwalia, village Kallar, in Bilaspur district and Mr Arvind Bedi, village Buhli in Kangra district were presented with Jeevan Raksha Medals.

Mr Mehar Chand Thakur of village Vashishtha in Kulu, Mr Girdhari Lal, Mr Kalyan Singh and Mr Parveen Singh, all residents of village Pandehav, Jaisinghpur in Kangra district, Mr Inder Singh Dhatwalia, village Kallar in Bilaspur district and Mr Arvind Bedi, village Buhli in Kangra district were presented with Jeevan Raksha Medals by the Governor.

Mr Mehar Chand Thakur received the medal for rescuing 150 Army personnel and their families who were caught in flash floods in the river Beas near Manali on September 5, 1995. The Army personnel were studying snow and avalanche.

Mr Giridhari Lal, Kalyan Singh and Praveen Singh rescued 25 persons when a boat capsized on Shivratri in March 1997, in village Padehar of Kangra district.

Mr Inder Singh a pulled out Anil Kumar, a tourist from Punjab from a gorge at Mariyali.

Arvind Bedi of Paprola rescued 24-year-old Kartik from the swollen Punnu Khad. Mr P.K. Dhumal, the Chief Minister, Mr Vidya Sagar, Agriculture Minister, Mr Narinder Bragta, Minister of State for Horticulture, and senior officers attended the ceremony.

Plea to screen HP ‘madarsas’
Tribune News Service

SHIMLA, Aug 14 — Mr Madhukar, general secretary of the Himachal Vikas Congress, has demanded that all "madrasas" in Himachal should be screened in view of the massacre of 35 innocent persons in Chamba by Kashmiri militants.

In a statement here yesterday Mr Madhukar said there were reports of certain "madrasas", religious educational institutions of Muslims, having links with terrorists.

It was unfortunate that during Congress rule effective steps were not taken to check the activities of militants in the state.

He criticised the state Congress chief, Mr Sat Mahajan, for "trying" to politicise the killings at Chamba. He criticised the Virbhadra Singh government for having withdrawn the paramilitary forces from the Chamba areas bordering Doda district of Jammu and Kashmir, thus providing safe passage to terrorists to Himachal.

Withdraw directions on posting: rangers
Tribune News Service

DHARAMSALA, Aug 14 — The Himachal Forest Rangers Association has demanded the withdrawal of directions issued by the Congress government regarding posting rangers within their home division.

In a memorandum submitted to the Forest Minister, Mr Roop Singh Thakur, the association pointed out that similar directions issued to the Excise Department had already been withdrawn. The association demanded that since the BJP had promised to withdraw the directions during the elections, orders must be issued immediately. The association further demanded the holding of the DPC for promotion of forest rangers to ACFs. The association regretted that despite repeated requests, the government had failed to accept their genuine demands.

The association has also objected to interference by Agriculture Department officials in the Kandi project, especially in Una district. They demanded that the APOs in the project should be drafted from the Forest Department, as the rangers were not willing to work under agriculture inspectors.

Poor bus service in Chopal area
From Our Correspondent

CHOPAL, Aug 14 — Residents here and of nearby villages are a worried lot due to shortage of buses for places like Throach, Gumma and Rawalpul.

The few HRTC buses, plying in the area, are overcrowded and packed to capacity.

There are no private buses plying in Chopal because of bad condition of roads. People living in Tikkri, Kaushal and Premnagar are the worst sufferers due to the poor bus service, according to local residents.