Shimla, November 23
The Congress high command has stepped up search for a new Pradesh Congress Committee chief following the request of Mrs Vidya Stokes, the present incumbent, that she should be relieved of the responsibility without further delay.

Mrs Stokes had expressed her desire to quit the top organisational post during the downsising of the ministry in the state but she was asked to continue. She met the Congress President, Mrs Sonia Gandhi, last evening in this regard. Sources close to Mrs Stokes said she urged Mrs Gandhi to take an early decision to end the uncertainty, which was not doing any good to her or the party. She has also emphasised that the new PCC chief should be chosen by consensus.

According to party sources, the high command is looking for a non-Rajput leader, preferably from the Scheduled Castes or the Other Backward Classes, to replace Mrs Stokes. Further, as both Mrs Stokes and Mr Virbhadra Singh, Chief Minister, belong to the Rajput community and hail from the Shimla region, the new party chief has to be from the merged areas, if not Kangra, to restore the regional balance.

The names of Mr Kuldeep Kumar, Industries Minister, Mr Ishwar Das, a former Minister from Kullu, Mr M.R. Goma, president of the Kangra District Congress Committee, and Mr Chander Kumar, MP from Kangra and former minister, are being discussed.

The names of Mr B.B. Butail, a former minister, and Mrs Viplove Thakur are also being mentioned but cast combinations are against them.

The name of Mr Anand Sharma, spokesperson for the AICC, also figured among the likely successors but he was reluctant to take up the post at a stage when the process for organisational poll was already under way.

While the search for a successor is on, some senior leaders in the high command are of view that the matters could be delayed for a while so that the new PCC chief could be chosen through the ongoing election process.

A final decision in the matter is likely to be taken over the next two or three days. Mrs Stokes took over as PCC chief four years ago and she had been holding two posts since March, 2003, when she joined the Virbhadra Singh Cabinet as the Minister for Power.

Her rivals in the party sought her ouster on the principle of “one man one post” but she was allowed to continue as the PCC chief even after she completed her three-year term in December, 2003.

Shimla, November 23
After staying aloof from the state politics ever since his defeat in the last Lok Sabha elections, former Union Minister and BJP leader Shanta Kumar seems to be making a comeback to politics, where he has had two stints as Chief Minister. Encouraged by the party's victory in the Guler byelection, where the BJP stalwart campaigned for a brief period, after cutting short his stay abroad, the BJP leader seems to be inclined towards making a comeback to state politics.

Addressing a press conference here today, the leader diplomatically replied to the queries about his staging a comeback to state politics saying, "The state is part of our country so I don't think there is much difference whether I stay in state or national politics,"

Still considered the tallest BJP leader from the politically significant district of Kangra, Mr Kumar today touched issues pertaining to the state. Within the BJP circles it is being felt that the party, which is able to retain majority of the Assembly seats from Kangra, will hold the key to the formation of the government.

Having 16 Assembly segments, the district of Kangra has always played a crucial role in the formation of the government. During the last Assembly elections, the Congress was able to form the government after it won 11 of the 16 seats from Kangra. Even Congress leaders admit that it was the issue of regional discrimination with Kangra which gave clear advantage to the BJP in the Guler byelection. "The Congress will have to pay a heavy price for dropping all three ministers from Kangra in the downsizing exercise and the BJP will play up the issue to the hilt," admit Congress leaders from Kangra.

Mr Kumar spoke about the financial crunch faced by the state government and the failure of the Chief Minister in getting help from the Centre.

"As a BJP Chief Minister in 1990, I was able to get help of Rs 100 crore from the Centre, so I fail to understand why the Centre is not coming to the rescue of the state," he said. He said it was due to political dishonesty and lack of will power by the Centre that the government had failed to control prices even though an economist was heading the government. He accused the Centre of playing in the hands of vested interests which included industrialists and businessmen.

He said during the five-year NDA rule the prices of essential commodities in all major towns of the country were monitored daily by a committee headed by the Cabinet Secretary and according arrangements for additional commodities made.

Mr Kumar said BJP leaders and workers from all over the country will stage a demonstration in New Delhi on December 1 against the failure of the government to check inflation.

Solan, November 23
Employees of the State Environment Protection and Pollution Control Board will have to undergo a special training to seek promotion. Their promotion avenues will depend on how they fare in the training. If they fail to qualify the test, they can be demoted.

Ms Vidya Stokes, Power Minister, while emphasising the need for revamping the technical machinery of the board underlined these points and said officials who had been serving in the same station for years together were now being transferred. A policy was strictly being followed to discourage officials belonging to a particular district to serve in their own region as they developed personnel interests, hampering the functioning of the board.

Ms Stokes who was addressing mediapersons here today, said the state government was paying special emphasis on the uplift of the minorities. MLAs had been directed to provide special grants from their area development funds for this section. While regretting the non-declaration of assets by her party men, she said the details had been made available to the party high command. Denying any chances of being reinstated as the PCC chief, she said her four-year tenure saw the party win crucial elections of the Vidhan Sabha, Parliament and municipal committees.

She said it was the party high command’s prerogative to chose a suitable candidate and a number of factors like regional balances and national interests had to weighed before deciding upon any candidate. She, however, made it clear that a candidate who was neither a minister nor occupied any official berth would suit the post.

Hamirpur, November 23
The ordeal of the residents of Hamirpur town due to digging of roads for laying sewage pipes continues unabated. Traffic jams continue on the Hamirpur-Shimla and Hamirpur-Dharamsala highways as the work is still in progress and is expected to take one more month to complete.

Though the pipe laying work had started in October 2004, it had yet not been completed allegedly due to unplanned and unscientific digging of land.

The work is in progress, but with a slow pace which has made the lives miserable for the residents and others persons visiting the town.

Bus and taxi operators and those crossing through the town are the worst hit. They have to wait for hours to cross through the town as there is no alternate road in the town from where the traffic could be diverted towards Shimla and Dharamsala.

Following criticism by press and local residents, the district administration today swung into action and presses into service a JCV machine and a road roller to metal the road.

A spokesman for the department of Irrigation-cum-Public Health said the department had directed contractors to complete the work as soon as possible.

However, insiders in the department openly admit that it would take two to three weeks more to lay the pipes.

Hamirpur, November 23
The HP unit of CITU has decided to launch a protest all over the state against hike in prices of petroleum products on November 24, according to Mr Kashmir Singh Thakur, state secretary of CITU, said this here today.

In a statement here today, he blasted the central government for taking anti-people decision. He alleged that by taking this decision, the Central Government had broken the backbone of the poor.

He demanded immediate withdrawal of the price hike failing which CITU would be compelled to intensify the agitation.

Mandi, November 23
As the Mandi Municipal Council (MMC) remained embroiled in petty politics, the town has become a heap of junk. The drains are chocked with trash and junk, the roads are potholed and dusty, creating health hazards in the town under the nose of the MMC and the Public Works Department, which is responsible for maintaining the highway.

Voicing its concern over the problems like bad road condition, poor health and hygiene in the town, members of the Citizens’ Council (CC), today said that the government was ignoring the development of the town despite the fact that it is the divisional headquarters of the central zone in the state. The members of the CC, which met today to elect its new executive raised the issues, revealed that the Mandi town was becoming a hazard for the pedestrians and cleanliness in the town was deplorable.

Talking to The Tribune, the CC members said: “The main state highway that runs through the town from Seri Manch and around Indira Gandhi Market through the Jail Road presents a picture of junkyard. The drains are clogged and overflowing with trash and junk dumped by the dhabhwalas and rarhiwalas. The roads in the town are potholed, raising plumes of dust under the nose of the Mandi Municipal Council”, the member rued, adding that the new restaurant in the Emerson building at Chauhata Bazaar is draining the kitchen water in the open under the entrance of the DPRO office.

The Government Colony in Bheuli has no system of the waste disposal and domestic waste is thrown in the surrounding slopes along the Bheuli road near the BDO office and Home Guards office, which has created unhygienic condition in the area. “The roads are potholed are in bad shape”, said Mr TL Vaidya, a member of the CC, who lives in Bheuli.

Raising the issue of the Mandi Urban Cooperative Bank Ltd., the CC members said the council would take out a protest march in the town soon, pressing upon the bank and the Reserve Bank of India to ease the problems of the depositors, as they were not getting their money.

Blaming it on shortage of staff, funds, and the PWD, Mrs Sushila Sonkhla, president, MMC who also faced no-trust motion, said they were maintaining cleanliness in the town. “We have shortage of staff and funds. The pathways and roads are maintained by the committee, but the main highway is maintained by the PWD”, she added.

The general secretary, CC, Mr TP Kapur said the term of the four top office-bearers of the executive — president, senior vice-president and general secretary — had been reduced from three years to two years. The council retained the old executive for the new term”.