H I M A C H A L   P R A D E S H

Helicopter airlifts six patients from Lahaul-Spiti
Shimla, January 23
Six patients were airlifted today from Tigrip village in Lahaul-Spiti district of Himachal to Bhuntar in Kulu district following the closure of 13,050-foot high Rohtang Pass for vehicular traffic, even as snow-laden clouds hovered over the tribal districts of the state.

Power board’s affairs under commission’s scanner
Shimla, January 23
The Himachal Pradesh State Electricity Regulatory Commission has ordered an inquiry into the affairs of the state power board to ascertain if its “financial position” was such that it is unable to “fully and efficiently” discharge its duties and obligations.

Kinnaur ZP chief assumes charge
Reckong Peo, January 23
The newly elected Chairperson of Kinnaur Zila Parishad, Mrs Cander Mani and Vice-Chairman Mr Chander Kirti took charge of their offices at Reckong Peo today.

Official apathy ruining rare books
Rotary, INTACH plan gathers dust
Shimla, January 23
Rare volumes on the British Raj and the independence struggle, dating back to the late 18th century could have been available on a website, courtesy the efforts of the INTACH and the Rotary Club had the government provided better accommodation for housing the district library here. Currently the library is housed in the St. Andrew’s Church, on the Mall.

Residents block traffic after man shot at
Chamba, January 23
Panic prevails in the town after the incident of gunshot on Vipin Rana, a client of K.K. Gupta, a veteran lawyer, last night allegedly by an assailant, Mehboob Khan, alongwith his accomplices.

Security Advisory Board constituted
Shimla, January 23
The Himachal government has constituted a state Security Advisory Board to improve responsiveness of the police and deal with other matters like training and recruitment standards of policemen.

Civic body poll put off for lack of quorum
Palampur, January 23
Elections to the local municipal council could not be held today. The elections were postponed to January 27.

BJP boycotts BDC meeting
Bilaspur, January 23
The Bilaspur Sadar Block Development Committee (BDC) today could not hold its first meeting at its headquarters at Lakhanpur, near here, as only 15 members, belonging to the Congress, presented themselves in the meeting hall while 19 members of the BJP boycotted the meeting. Though all of them were present in the BDC Office.

BJP-backed men win MC posts
Solan, January 23
BJP-backed candidates won elections to the posts of chairman and vice-chairman of the local mc today. The BJP, which won six of the 13 seats, roped in an Independent, Mr Vijay Kumar. Fielded as vice-chairman, he defeated Ms Renu Sethi.

Helicopter airlifts six patients from Lahaul-Spiti

Shimla, January 23
Six patients were airlifted today from Tigrip village in Lahaul-Spiti district of Himachal to Bhuntar in Kulu district following the closure of 13,050-foot high Rohtang Pass for vehicular traffic, even as snow-laden clouds hovered over the tribal districts of the state.

Official sources said the helicopter airlifted six patients, including three women — one of them pregnant, who were stranded in Tigrip village of the district following the cancellation of the flight to the district due to light snowfall yesterday.

The chopper took off from the village with six patients and two children at 12.15 pm, the source said.

Electricity supply in Koksar, Sisu, Gondhala, Mulling, Goshal, Meyar villages and Tindi valley of the district remained disrupted due to heavy snowfall in the district for the past few days and minimum and maximum temperatures were being recorded at minus 15 to minus 20°C.

Telephone lines were also down at several places in the district and communication was being maintained through wireless sets.

The 13,050-foot high Rohtang Pass was still closed to vehicular traffic after it received another spell of snowfall yesterday.

Snow clouds were hovering over Kinnaur district and Pangi and Bharmour valleys of Chamba district. There was no report of fresh snowfall from anywhere in the state in the past 24 hours.

Vehicular traffic on National Highway 21 was plying normally up till Tapri in Kinnaur district, but was closed from Tapri to Powari while it was open from Powari to Reckong Peo, the sources said, adding that roads beyond it were closed.

The sources said vehicular traffic on the National Highway and other state highways was plying normally.

Night temperatures tumbled by a few degrees across the state intensifying coldwave conditions in the past 24 hours with Shimla recording a night temperature of 0.7 degree Celsius, while it was two degree Celsius at Sundernagar in Mandi district and 2.8 degree Celsius at Bhuntar in Kulu district. — UNI

Power board’s affairs under commission’s scanner
Rakesh Lohumi
Tribune News Service

Shimla, January 23
The Himachal Pradesh State Electricity Regulatory Commission has ordered an inquiry into the affairs of the state power board to ascertain if its “financial position” was such that it is unable to “fully and efficiently” discharge its duties and obligations.

Exercising the powers vested in it under Section 128 of the Electricity Act 2003, for the first time the commission appointed Mr A.K. Jain, a former member of the West Bengal Regulatory Commission, as the investigating authority to conduct the inquiry. He has been given 50 days to complete the job from the day of commencement of the assignment.

“The extremely poor quality of data and burgeoning high employee cost of Rs 1.34 per unit, twice the next highest and over six times the lowest in the country, and the worst debt trap with a cash loss of over Rs 900 crore leave no hope and future for the board.

To compound it further, the board has been taken recourse to oft-repeated jargon like micro-management, beyond jurisdiction and internal matter to defy and disobey its well-meaning directions,” the commission observed.

The board had failed to comply with the conditions of licence and the provisions of the Act and regulations and the commission was of the opinion that the financial position of the board was such that it was unable to discharge its duties and obligations, the order said.

As the board has not been unbundled so far, the investigating authority has been asked to look into the affairs concerning all three functions of the board pertaining to distribution, transmission and trading to ascertain if it was in a position to fulfil obligations imposed as a deemed licencee on it.

The commission took this unprecedented step, which could lead to suspension or cancellation of the licence of the board for the distribution, transmission and trading of power after the board failed to comply with its regulations and also acted in contravention of the Act.

In all 25 regulations, 11 pertaining to distribution, 10 to transmission and 4 trading were violated. Besides, the board also contravened Sections 41, 51, 43, 46 and 65 of the Act.

Such investigations are ordered to form an opinion and if the investigating authority finds the position of the state utility financially “untenable”, it could exercise its powers under Sections 19 and 24 to revoke or suspend its licence.

Kinnaur ZP chief assumes charge
Tribune News Service

Reckong Peo, January 23
The newly elected Chairperson of Kinnaur Zila Parishad, Mrs Cander Mani and Vice-Chairman Mr Chander Kirti took charge of their offices at Reckong Peo today.

Belonging to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) the main opposition party in the state, both were elected unopposed as no one from the ruling Congress party came forward to contest the elections against them. The elections to these posts were held on January 16, this year.

Mrs Chander Mani, Chairperson of the Zila Parishad presided over the first meeting of the newly elected members. All 10 newly elected members were present at the meeting.

After the meeting the Chairperson told The Tribune that her priority would be to strengthen the panchayati raj system in the district and utilise the funds available with the Parishad for the benefit of the rural areas.

Above the party lines, I will take along all the members in framing and implementing policies for the rural folk of this tribal district, she said.

Later, workers of the BJP greeted them with garlands. The District President of the BJP, Mr Tejwant Negi and office-bearers of the district unit of the party were also present on the occasion.

Official apathy ruining rare books
Rotary, INTACH plan gathers dust
Tribune News Service

Shimla, January 23
Rare volumes on the British Raj and the independence struggle, dating back to the late 18th century could have been available on a website, courtesy the efforts of the INTACH and the Rotary Club had the government provided better accommodation for housing the district library here. Currently the library is housed in the St. Andrew’s Church, on the Mall.

It was almost two years back that experts from the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH) prepared a project for fumigation and chemical treatment of almost 40,000 books that were in need of immediate preservation. It was at the behest of the Rotary Club that the experts from INTACH’s Lucknow laboratory prepared a project, which was submitted to the government.

With the government still not making provision for better accommodation for housing the library, the project has not been able to take off. This despite the fact that the entire expenditure would have been met by arranging funds from the Ministry of Culture, along with the Rotary.

As part of the project, the most rare and valuable books and manuscripts, including those on ‘shikar’ (hunting) and travelogues penned by foreigners, would have been scanned and put on a website. This would have made it easy for those wanting reference material besides keeping the books safe and preserved in the library.

INTACH experts had recommended immediate chemical treatment of the books and fumigation of the entire building to make it free from any traces of fungus and moisture. “We had requested the Secretary, Education, to give a portion of the adjoining building occupied by the Evening College to us or else shift it to Ava Lodge in the university,” said Mr B.S Malhans, Convener of the Himachal Chapter of the INTACH.

In fact the proposal for shifting the Evening College to Ava Lodge has been under government consideration for the past many years but it has still not come through. “Nobody realises the importance of valuable books which are getting damaged in the library as there is insufficient place to stack the books in the old building, which was basically a church,” says Mr Ajit Butail, who is actively involved with both the INTACH as well as the Rotary. He says Rotary is still keen to take up the project provided there is some help from the officialdom.

Due to improper storage and moisture, a lot of damage has been caused and some of these books will have to be taken to the laboratory at Lucknow to undertake preservation work. “The paper has started cracking and breaking and the only way they can be saved is with the help of specialised treatment page by page,” explained Mr Malhans.

The Rotary had decided to buy a portable fumigator so that it could be taken to all libraries in the state to save rare books and manuscripts. The apathetic attitude of the government, could lead to the rare collection of books being completely damaged and lost forever.

Residents block traffic after man shot at
Our Correspondent

Chamba, January 23
Panic prevails in the town after the incident of gunshot on Vipin Rana, a client of K.K. Gupta, a veteran lawyer, last night allegedly by an assailant, Mehboob Khan, alongwith his accomplices.

The residents of the town today blocked vehicular traffic on the Chamba-Bharmour highway in protest against the alleged inaction and failure of the police in arresting the assailant. It was only after SP Upendra Thakur assured of appropriate action that demonstrators lifted the blockade.

Vipin Rana who was wounded by the gunfire was admitted to the zonal hospital.

Meanwhile, Mr Thakur said the police had spotted the places where the accused and his accomplices were hiding; claiming that they would soon be caught in the police net. A case under Section 307 of the IPC has been registered.

Meanwhile, the District Bar Association in its emergent meeting strongly condemned the attack on the client of an advocate. Members of the association decided to abstain from the court work until the assailant was arrested. The Bar also alleged police inaction in the case.

Security Advisory Board constituted
Tribune News Service

Shimla, January 23
The Himachal government has constituted a state Security Advisory Board to improve responsiveness of the police and deal with other matters like training and recruitment standards of policemen.

The board will be headed by the Chief Minister and the Chief Secretary will be its vice-chairman.

The Additional Chief Secretary, (Finance), Principal Secretaries of Industries, Transport, Social Justice, Tourism and Law, Director-General of Police and Additional Director-General of Police (CID) will be its members.

Besides it will have four persons of eminence from amongst social activists representatives of industry and retired senior police officers and nominee of the Bureau of Police Research and Development. The Principal Secretary, (home) will be its member-secretary.

The board will meet at least once in a quarter.

The board would lay down the guidelines for the performance of preventive tasks and service oriented functions by the police.

It will recommend measures to improve responsiveness, public image of the police, increase transparency and efficiency in its functioning.

It will also make recommendations and give suggestions regarding training-orientation and recruitment standards of police personnels.

Civic body poll put off for lack of quorum
Our Correspondent

Palampur, January 23
Elections to the local municipal council could not be held today. The elections were postponed to January 27.

Three Congress members did not participate in the elections. Congress MLA Brij Butial refused to announce the candidature of Mr Ajit Baghla of the Congress for the presidentship of the council.

Two Congress members joined hands with BJP members and decided to elect Mr Baghla president and Dr Mamta Sharma of the BJP vice-president of the council, but elections could not be held due to lack of quorum.

Addressing a press conference later, Mr Baghla, Mr Sanjay Kumar, Ms Meenakshi and Dr Mamta said they had joined hands keeping in view the development of the town.

The Congress had lost control of the municipal council after 35 years due to internal differences and failure of Mr Butail in handling the situation.

BJP boycotts BDC meeting
Our Correspondent

Bilaspur, January 23
The Bilaspur Sadar Block Development Committee (BDC) today could not hold its first meeting at its headquarters at Lakhanpur, near here, as only 15 members, belonging to the Congress, presented themselves in the meeting hall while 19 members of the BJP boycotted the meeting. Though all of them were present in the BDC Office.

BJP state spokesman Randhir Sharma told the mediapersons that the BJP members, who were in clear majority in the house of 36 members, stayed away from the meeting as a protest against “illegal and unconstitutional election” of the Chairman and Vice-Chairman of the BDC on January 14. The members were demanding that the election should be scrapped and be held again according to the rules. He said since the quorum was not present, the meeting had to be postponed.

BJP-backed men win MC posts

Solan, January 23
BJP-backed candidates won elections to the posts of chairman and vice-chairman of the local mc today. The BJP, which won six of the 13 seats, roped in an Independent, Mr Vijay Kumar. Fielded as vice-chairman, he defeated Ms Renu Sethi.

Mr Devinder Thakur defeated Mr Kulbhushan Gupta to become the chairman. — OC