M A I N   N E W S

Inquiry indicts municipal chief
Lalit Mohan

Ropar, June 10
An inquiry report submitted by a vigilance team investigating corruption in the Ropar Municipal Council, has indicted the cashier-cum-clerk, storekeeper and president of the council for misappropriation of funds and bypassing procedure.

A team of the Vigilance Bureau officials had raided the premises of the Ropar Municipal Council on May 24 on the orders of the Punjab Chief Minister on a complaint by certain ruling alliance municipal councillors.

The report has alleged that at the time of the raid, an amount of Rs 865 was found short in the council chest. Departmental action has been recommended against Ms Asha Rani cashier-cum-clerk of the council.

During checking of the council stores, material worth Rs 45,000 including electric tube rods, streetlight sets, tube chokes and electric bulbs were found missing. For this a departmental inquiry has been recommended by the vigilance officials against Mr Daniel Masih, storekeeper.

The president of the council, Mr Indersen Chatwal, has also been accused of corruption and bypassing norms. The vigilance officials alleged that during the raid when they inquired about cheque books of the council, they were told that they were lying at the residence of the president.

The cheque books were then recovered from the residence of the council president in the presence of official witnesses.

The president has been accused of deleting his signatures from the cheques. As per the procedure, the Executive Officer initially signs the cheques which are then counter-signed by the president before being given to contractors.

However, it was found the president had bypassed the procedure and himself signed the cheques in the first instance allegedly with ulterior motives. He then deleted his signatures from the cheques during the raid which further substantiated his ill-designs, alleged the vigilance officials.

Affidavits of a shopkeeper, Mr Vidya Sagar and two contractors, Mr Balwinder Singh and Mr Mohinder Pal, who had levelled the charges of corruption against the president, have been attached along with the report.

Legal action has been sought by the Vigilance Bureau officials against the president.

The other charges include misutilisation of funds. It has been alleged that about Rs 10-12 lakh given to the council by the planning board for specific purposes had been used for other works in gross violation of rules.

It was for the first time that the Chief Minister had ordered a vigilance raid against a council ruled by the SAD-BJP alliance. The president of the council belongs to the BJP and enjoys the support of the local minister, Mr Tara Singh Ladal.

Tough task ahead for Kohli
Dhumal, Shanta camps begin meeting
Tribune News Service

Shimla, June 10
Mr O.P. Kohli, who has replaced Mr Narinder Modi as in charge of party affairs in Himachal Pradesh, has a tough task at hand of uniting warring factions, the belated effort of the state unit to patch-up differences notwithstanding.

The much-needed exercise to narrow down the difference between the ruling Dhumal and rival Shanta camps got underway here today with important leaders of both factions holding a closed-door meeting.

Ostensibly, the purpose of the meeting is to review the performance of the government and prepare a strategy to blunt the Congress attack which has, of late, adopted an aggressive posture. However, the real purpose, insiders reveal, is to end internecine war which has dented the party image.

The two-day meeting being held under the chairmanship of Mr Jai Krishan Sharma, state party chief, is being attended by Mr J.P. Nadda, Mr Praveen Sharma, Mr K.K. Kapoor, Mr Vidya Sagar and Mr Narinder Bragta, all ministers, Mr Khushi Ram Balnatah, Dr R.R. Shastri, Mr K.K. Kaushal, Mr Ramswaroop, Mr Dharmani, Mr Ganesh Dut, Mr Suresh Bhardwaj and Mr Jairam Thakur.

Mr Dulo Ram Thakur, who led a revolt against Mr Dhumal, who was away to Baijnath, was expected to join the conclave later.

With the main demand of the Shanta faction — removal of Mr Modi — already met and Mr Kohli at the helm of affairs, the situation is ideal for making a fresh beginning. The rank and file of the party is hoping that in the changed situation, senior leaders will be able to overcome their past prejudices and work united to strengthen the party.

Mr O.P. Kohli, the low-profile RSS leader, is more than familiar with the groupism in the party. In fact, he presided over the fateful party meeting at Jawalamukhi in 1997 in which the two factions virtually came to blows and he had to defer the election of the state party chief. While a vertical split in the party was avoided, the seeds of division sown during the unsavoury incident have been plaguing the party eversince.

Unlike, Mr Modi, against whom the Shanta faction had openly revolted, Mr Kohli is in a position to play the role of a mediator and remove irritants responsible for the factional divide.

The two-day conclave has assumed added significance in view of the proposed visit of Mr Jana Krishnamurthi, the national BJP president, later this month. The change in the party set-up at the national level, observes feel, could prove a boon for the party and help stem the rot which has set in over the past three years.