Himachal suspends SE, XEN
SHIMLA, Nov 13 — The Himachal Government today suspended a Superintending Engineer and an Executive Engineer of the Irrigation and Public Health Department following the detection of large-scale irregularities in the allotment of certain works and financial bunglings.

Wildlife under threat
MANSADHAR (Chamba): The greatest threat to the survival of certain wildlife species comes from poachers and the flourishing illegal trade in wildlife products in Mansadhar forests of the Churah ravine in Chamba district. Though Mansadhar is not a wildlife sanctuary, yet it is said that the forested Mansadhar has a number of different species of fauna.

BJP violating poll code: Cong
DHARAMSALA, Nov 13 — The General Secretary of the HPCC and legislator, Mrs Asha Kumari, today accused the Chief Minister, Mr PK Dhumal, and other BJP leaders of violating the election code of conduct.

Concern over wheat seeds shortage
SHIMLA, Nov 13 — The State Kisan Sabha has expressed concern over the shortage of wheat seeds and fertilisers and urged the government to make arrangements to ensure adequate supplies of farm inputs for the rabi season.

CBI probe sought into wood quota
SHIMLA, Nov 13 — The state unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party has charged Congress leaders Asha Kumari and Viplove Thakur with distorting facts to cover up the irregularities committed by the Virbhadra Singh government in the allotment of khair wood quota to a private katha factory and demanded a CBI probe into the matter.

Fiscal crunch due to Cong policies: Dhumal
From Our Correspondent

PALAMPUR, Nov 13 — Mr Prem Kumar Dhumal, Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh, today said that because of faulty and wrong planning and policies of the previous Congress government, the State was passing through a serious financial crisis.

He said in the past six months, his government had made all efforts to get the maximum financial assistance from the Centre and to mobilise the financial resources of the state.

Talking to media persons here this morning, Mr Dhumal disclosed that despite the crisis, the development projects were not affected and a number of new projects had also been taken up.

He said the CBI would soon start an inquiry against Mr Virbhadra Singh as per charge sheet submitted by HPVC supremo Sukh Ram.

The Chief Minister said that his government was committed to the welfare of farmers, fruit and vegetable growers. In the current financial year, Rs 3.20 crore had been earmarked for the subsidy on seeds, fertilisers and tractors etc. in the State. Besides, the government had also sanctioned Rs 1 crore for the premium to be paid for crop insurance scheme on behalf of the farmers. The government had also covered mango and citrus fruit growers under the market intervention scheme.

Mr Dhumal disclosed that his government had succeeded in getting cleared the Act for imposition of cess on power generation which would give an additional revenue of Rs 200 crore to the state per annum. This matter had been hanging fire since 1983 when both in the State and Centre, the Congress was in power.

Mr Dhumal said the major achievement of his government was the improvement in relations with the neighbouring states, particularly Punjab, which had resulted in the finalisation of agreements on Shah Nahar Project, Anandpur Sahib Hydel Project etc.

He said in Thein Dam Project, the Punjab Government had also started payment of compensation to land owners and it would also provide job to the one member each of the affected family.

Rajputs, Gaddis back BJP in Baijnath
Tribune News Service

DHARAMSALA, Nov 13 — The shift of the powerful Rajput community towards the BJP in the Baijnath Assembly segment has further strengthened the position of the BJP candidate, Mr Dulo Ram.

Some senior Rajput leaders of Baijnath, including certain functionaries of the Himachal Rajput Kalyan Sabha yesterday decided to support the BJP in the byelection. There are about 10,000 Rajput voters in the constituency.

Rajput leaders said this decision was taken as the Congress had given a raw deal to the Rajput community by ignoring its claim for the assembly ticket from Baijnath. "Ever since Mr Sat Mahajan has been made the Pradesh Congress Committee President, injustice is being meted out to us, solely because of caste considerations, and thus we have decided to back the BJP candidate in Baijnath," stated one leader.

The Rajputs point out that the Congress repeated what it had done in Sulah, where ticket was given to an OBC despite the area being dominated by Rajputs.

"For how long can we continue to tolerate such humiliation and injustice, despite the fact that we have traditionally been Congress supporters?" said another Rajput leader from Palampur.

During the last assembly election in February, this year, a large number of Rajputs had voted for the BJP, because of the emergence of Mr Dhumal, as a Rajput leader in the BJP. It is a well-known fact that the Rajput community of Kangra does not see eye to eye with the PCC chief, Mr Sat Mahajan, and have been his strongest critics. They accuse him of sidelining and ignoring even popular Rajput leaders. Some senior Congress leaders from Kangra are learnt to have met the Chief Minister during his two-day visit to the area.

The polarisation of votes along caste lines taking place in Baijnath, seems to be tilted towards the BJP with the majority of over 10,000 Gaddi voters also backing it. Mr Dulo Ram is himself a Gaddi and has a good hold in the upper belt of Chotta and Bara Banghal, Utrala and Kandwari. Thus the BJP seems to be on firm ground.

Mr Dulo Ram, has been in active politics for the past 16 years and has good personal contacts.

In the absence of the Congress stalwart, Mr Sant Ram, who dominated Baijnath politics for over 25 years, his son and Congress candidate, Mr Sudhir Sharma, is making a desperate bid to woo the voters. The return of Mr Kishori Lal back to the Congress, has definitely strengthened the party as he has a good hold amongst the Dalits, whose number is over 13,000. Mr Kishori Lal, who had contested against Mr Sant Ram on the HVC ticket, had polled about 5,000 votes and has a good hold in Baijnath, Paprola and adjoining areas.

The former Chief Minister, Mr Virbhadra Singh, will begin his week-long tour of Baijnath tomorrow, while the Chief Minister, Mr Dhumal has already spent two days campaigning for the party candidate.

However, the biggest threat to both the parties is from their own man who had been claimants for the party ticket and are now allegedly indulging in undercutting of the official candidates.

Scrap Banikhet airstrip: Centre
From S.P. Sharma
Tribune News Service

SHIMLA, Nov 13 — The Centre has asked the Himachal Pradesh Government to abandon the construction of the Rs 15 crore airstrip at Banikhet in Chamba district and, instead, spend the amount on improving the three existing airports in the state.

The proposal to construct airstrip in the tribal area of Rangrik in Lahaul-Spiti district has now been almost scrapped because of technical reasons.

The suggestion to abandon work on the airstrip at Banikhet is learnt to have been made in a recent meeting of the Airport Authority of India (AAI) that was held with State Government officers to assess the civil aviation facilities in the state.

It is learnt that the State Government might offer the Banikhet airstrip project to the private sector.

The AAI is also learnt to have pointed out that the construction of the airstrip at Banikhet did not fit in the new aviation policy under which the distance between two airports has to be at least 150-km. The Pathankot and the Gaggal airports in Kangra district are at shorter distances.

Moreover, it is pointed out the new policy also provides that no new airport shall be constructed without the approval of the Union Cabinet.

The Environment Ministry had also expressed some reservations for giving clearance to the construction of the Banikhet airstrip because felling of at least 200 green trees was involved in it. The techno-economical feasibility of the AAI is also yet to come.

The construction of the airstrip at Rangrik is also learnt to have been abandoned on the basis of the feasibility report of Mr Mahendra Raj, who was engaged as a consultant for the project. The airstrip was to be constructed to provide a commercial air link to the tribal area which has a vast tourism potential.

The consultant is learnt to have reported that no aircraft was available in the country which could carry passengers at the high altitude with a runway of 6,814 ft and 28° C temperature.

The Tenth Finance Commission had sanctioned Rs 30 crore for the two airstrips. The authorities are now learnt to have sought the Centre's permission for diverting these funds for expanding the three existing airports at Shimla, Kulu and Kangra so as to enable the operation of bigger aircraft from there.

A Rs 56-crore scheme for expanding these airports has been sent to the Centre. This includes a grant of Rs 10 crore for the Kangra airport which is lying closed for the past over two years.

Sources said that the AAI has assessed that Rs 28 crore was required for expanding the Kulu airport. It has also been proposed that runways of all the three airports will be expanded to 5000 ft from the existing 3800 ft so as to enable larger aircraft with a capacity of carrying at least 50 passengers to operate from there. At present, aircraft with a carrying capacity of 16 are operating at these airports.

The Alliance Airways, a subsidiary of the Indian Airlines, is learnt to have offered to operate air services in Himachal Pradesh, provided the runways at these airports are expanded.

Himachal suspends SE, XEN
Tribune News Service

SHIMLA, Nov 13 — The Himachal Government today suspended a Superintending Engineer and an Executive Engineer of the Irrigation and Public Health Department following the detection of large-scale irregularities in the allotment of certain works and financial bunglings.

The irregularities were detected by Mr Ramesh Chaudhary, Irrigation and Public Health Minister, who inspected the records during his visit to Rampur about a month ago. Subsequently, a Chief Engineer was sent to hold an inquiry and seize the records.

On the basis of preliminary investigations, the department charged Mr H.K. Anand, Superintending Engineer, and Mr J.C. Gupta, Executive Engineer, with allotting work for the repair of vehicles to "benami" firms to benefit a son of Mr Anand who owned an auto workshop.

The sample checks carried out by the department revealed that the total amount involved might run into millions of rupees. Work was allotted to about 12 benami firms in excess of the permissible limits at exorbitant rates.

The handwriting in the bills of many of these firms was similar and even the persons receiving the payment were the same. The bill-book of one of the firms bore the telephone number of a son of the Superintending Engineer.

Interestingly, the bills for the repair of some vehicles were identical and even the parts were changed in the same order.

Similar irregularities were also noticed in the execution of civil works and further investigations were on.

The department had sought the explanation of the two engineers before taking action.

While the Executive Engineer had not given any reply so far, the Superintending Engineer, had stated that he was not aware of any irregularities. The audit conducted by the Accountant-General should have pointed if any irregularities were there, he maintained.

Wildlife under threat
From Balkrishan Prashar

MANSADHAR (Chamba): The greatest threat to the survival of certain wildlife species comes from poachers and the flourishing illegal trade in wildlife products in Mansadhar forests of the Churah ravine in Chamba district. Though Mansadhar is not a wildlife sanctuary, yet it is said that the forested Mansadhar has a number of different species of fauna.

Poaching for getting skin and flesh of wild animals to be used for medicinal purposes has not only posed a danger to the breeding of wildlife but has also put it on the verge of extinction in the natural habitat of Mansadhar.

Spread over an area of about 100 sq km, Mansadhar hills are located about 100 km away from the district headquarters town of Chamba. In the ambience of Mansadhar fall the scattered villages of Guila, Bounderi and Saikothi panchayats.

The Mansadhar wildlife habitat is situated at a height ranging from 2000 to 4390 metres. A press party accompanied by a team of officials had to travel some distance in a Gypsy in this secluded region finding certain species of birds.

A local resident and former pradhan of the Guila panchayat, Mr Tashi, who was guiding the pressmen said that wild animals usually come down at night to the Tarela nullah, a tributary of the Siul rivulet.

The important species in the habitat are thar (kerth), ibex, musk deer, barking deer, ghoral, black bear, leopard and birds — monal, koklas and tragopan. It is learnt that poachers earn huge profits by selling organs of animals and their skin.

The state government has not been taking any notice of the census of various surviving species of wildlife in habitats like Mansadhar which have not yet been declared as wildlife sanctuaries. The government is not ensuring a proper care of the wildlife population in such habitats for scientific, cultural and ecological purposes.

The wildlife authorities of the area have not been able to detect any poaching case so far. It is perhaps because of the reason the Mansadhar wildlife habitat is not a wildlife sanctuary and does not come within the purview of wildlife officials concerned.

BJP violating poll code: Cong
Tribune News Service

DHARAMSALA, Nov 13 — The General Secretary of the HPCC and legislator, Mrs Asha Kumari, today accused the Chief Minister, Mr PK Dhumal, and other BJP leaders of violating the election code of conduct.

She accused the Chief Minister of using the government helicopter, to attend a private function at a place which is close to Baijnath.

"During the election period, the Chief Minister can use the helicopter only for unavoidable reasons or for emergency", she said.

She also alleged that certain Chairman and Vice-Chairman of corporations and boards were using their official vehicles for electioneering purpose. The matter had already been brought to the notice of the state Electoral Officer.

Accusing the district administration of playing a partisan role, she informed that the instalments under the Gandhi Kuteer Yojna, which had been stopped for the past some time, for lack of funds were now being given in the form of Rs 4,500 cheques, but only in Baijnath block.

She also complained that none of the Congress leaders were being given rooms in the rest houses, saying that they had been kept for the election observers, whereas actually they were being used by the BJP workers.

She added that a large number of fake votes had also been made by the BJP men in the Baijnath constituency.

Concern over wheat seeds shortage
Tribune News Service

SHIMLA, Nov 13 — The State Kisan Sabha has expressed concern over the shortage of wheat seeds and fertilisers and urged the government to make arrangements to ensure adequate supplies of farm inputs for the rabi season.

Mr Kuldeep Singh, secretary of the sabha, said the sowing of wheat had already begun but farmers were facing problems in procuring seeds. There was also an acute shortage of nitrogen fertilisers.

He criticised the government for its failure to check price rise and demanded strict action against hoarders who were responsible for the scarcity of essential commodities.

CBI probe sought into wood quota
Tribune News Service

SHIMLA, Nov 13 — The state unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party has charged Congress leaders Asha Kumari and Viplove Thakur with distorting facts to cover up the irregularities committed by the Virbhadra Singh government in the allotment of khair wood quota to a private katha factory and demanded a CBI probe into the matter.

Mr Randhir Sharma, Secretary of the party and Chairman of the State Small Savings Advisory Board, said the quota was allotted by Mr Virbhadra Singh when he was only a caretaker Chief Minister and could not take any policy decision. Moreover, Mr Singh had earlier himself written in the file that the matter should be placed before the Cabinet. However, when it became evident that Congress would not be able to form the government, he took the decision all by himself.

Favouring a particular unit of Sirmaur, Mr Virbhadra Singh completely overlooked the interest of small katha bhattis, he alleged.

He said only a CBI probe could reveal the facts.