Shimla, July 17
Mr Virbhadra Singh, Chief Minister, today said in the Assembly that only 105 workers in three labour camps had been washed away by flash floods in Pulliah Nullah and the toll might not be too high.

He said while two camps were located on the left bank of the nullah — one upstream of the bridge and the other downstream — the third was at the Barau khud, about 3 km from the first camp. Each of these camps had 30 to 35 labourers.

The fury of the flash flood unleashed by the cloudburst brought along lots of boulders and trees, which might have got stuck under the bridge over the nullah making the water and the debris spill over on either side of the bridge. It was raining heavily at that time. Some people raised an alarm at the upper camp and ran to save their lives. This gave them time to escape before the bridge collapsed. While some got out in time, the others got stuck in the debris and died.

Those in the lower camp suffered fewer causalities. The district administration was alerted at 8.45 am and rescue teams were sent to the spot after coordinating efforts with various agencies as envisaged under the disaster management plan. The teams comprised ITBP’s 400 jawans, 50 Home Guards, 50 from the district police and the medical staff. Food supplies and relief material in the form of blankets, besides cash, were all moved to the spot before 11 am.

The hospital was fully geared up to receive the injured and 26 of the injured were brought there, out of which, three were discharged after they had received first-aid. Later, one person succumbed to the injuries, while 5 persons were reffered to the IGMC in Shimla. So far, 17 bodies have been spotted and all but one extricated. Out of the 18 dead, 15 were Gurkhas. The injured belong to Jammu and Kashmir (3), Madhya Pradesh (2), Nepal (5), West Bengal (3) and Himachal Pradesh (6).

Rs 2,000 as relief has been given to each of the injured and Rs 5,000 to every patient referred to Shimla. The compensation for the loss of lives would be distributed after verification of the relatives. The NHPC and its contractors were also distributing relief through the district administration.

The labourers were employed by four sub-contractors of the NHPC, out of whom, Karma Lama and Machinder had joined the rescue operations, while the other two were being traced. It was from Karma Lama, who was at the site at the time of the accident, that the administration was able to assess how many labourers had got time to escape. The fact that most bodies recovered so far were of women and children only showed that most men had escaped and the toll might not be too high.

Dharamsala, July 17
The General Secretary and spokesman for the Kangra District Congress Committee, Mr Rajan Dewan, today ridiculed the protest rally held by BJP here yesterday.

Talking to mediapersons, he said the allegation that Kangra was being ignored was wrong and in fact it was the BJP which had always given a step-motherly treatment to Kangra .

Rebutting the charges contained in the memorandum submitted to the Governor Mr Rajan Dewan said the Mr Virbhadra Singh was first Chief Minister which had started winter stay at Dharamsala so that the problems of lower areas could be understood and sorted out. He said Mr Dhumal despite his tall claims of shifting winter capital never stayed here.

The Congress General Secretary said the BJP recently raised the issue of shifting capital to Jahu which was a laughable idea. He said when Mr Dhumal was the Chief Minister, he never raised this issue and now when he was out of power, the statement was issued to confuse the people. He alleged that Mr Dhumal could have shifted the capital when he was the Chief Minister.

Mr Rajan Dewan said the medical college at Tanda was started by Mr Virbhadra Singh in 1998 despite stiff opposition from the BJP.

Shimla, July 17
The Himachal Government has again taken up with the Centre the state’s case for allowing cultivation of poppy to boost the economy of poor hill farmers.

This was stated in the Vidhan Sabha by Mr Rangila Ram Rao, Minister for Excise and Taxation, while replying to a debate on a resolution moved by Mr Mohinder Singh in this regard. He said under the NDPS Act, poppy could not be cultivated without the permission of the Centre. He said poppy cultivation was banned in the state in 1954 and since then the matter had been taken with the Centre a number of times.

Trial poppy cultivation was done in 1978 on 5 hectares, but the Centre did not grant permission to allow its cultivation on the plea that the yield was poor, the component of morphine was low and the production in the country was already more than the demand. Not only that, the international demand had been declining due to availability of its substitutes. In 1999, the state again took up the matter, but to no avail.

Regarding the cultivation of cannabis, he said no case was made out as unlike poppy it was not being cultivated anywhere in the country. He urged the member to withdraw his resolution in view of the fact that the government was already pursuing the matter with the Centre. As he refused to withdraw the resolution, it was rejected by voice vote.

Earlier, moving the resolution, Mr Mohinder Singh said hill farmers had no cash crops to fall back upon and cultivation of poppy and cannabis could provide the much needed boost to their economy. He said the two banned crops could be grown on 20,000 hectares within the altitudinal limits of 4,000 ft to 7,000 ft. It could help provide self-employment to a large number of people. The state could produce opium worth about Rs 750 crore and cannabis worth Rs 200 crore annually.

Solan, July 17
Shashi Gupta (44) was found murdered at her residence at Bori Mohalla in Lower Bazaar area of the town this afternoon. The body was found from a metal trunk in her single-room residence. The Superintendent of Police, Mr S.R. Sharma, said that preliminary investigations proved that the family members who resided near her, were somehow involved in the case. The deceased brother lives on the top floor of the house while her sister lives in a room next to her.

The murder came to light when a neighbour informed the Police Station Sadar that the house of the deceased had caught fire and a body, was found in a semi-burnt condition.

The neighbours, who had gathered to extinguish the fire, were amazed to see Shashi’s body lying there when they threw water to extinguish the trunk which was burning. The police, which reached the scene in the afternoon on receiving the information, recovered some semi-burnt clothes.

Mr Sharma said that since blood was found from the murder site it meant that the body had some injuries. Though preliminary investigation no external injury marks were found.

Shimla, July 17
Encouraged by the success of the concessional yellow card, state road transport corporation is planning to introduce a green card to compete with the private operators.

Mr G.S. Bali, Transport Minister, said the corporation printed 40,000 yellow cards of Rs 15 each which gave 20 per cent concession upto a distance of 40 km. Now it was printing another 30,000 cards. He said the corporation was toying with idea of introducing a green card, which would be costlier but entitle the commuters a higher concession. The details would be worked out shortly.