Dharamsala, January 31
BJP leader and former Transport Minister Kishan Kapoor here yesterday raised doubts over the MoU signed by the government with Ford for the proposed Himalyan Ski village in the foothills of Manali.

Addressing a press conference, he said there were several loopholes in the agreement. Complete addresses of the representatives of the company were missing. The government should either issue a white paper in this regard or give a detailed clarification to the people of the state, he said.

“The agreement has been made on a Rs 20 stamp paper as if it was a small deal. The complete addresses of the Ford Chairman, Mr Alfred Brice, and MD, Mr Ajay Dabra, have not been mentioned even though the complete address of the government nominee, Mr Ashok Thakur, Principal Secretary, Tourism, has been mentioned,” said Mr Kapoor.

Mr Kapoor also raised the issue of conversion and blamed the Congress chief, Ms Sonia Gandhi, for it. He said over 35,000 people had been converted to Christianity by way of a campaign in the state ever since she took over as UPA president and for the first time Sikhs were also being ‘forced’ to get converted. He sought enactment of a law in this regard so that the right to religion could be protected.

Mandi, January 31
The Mandi Lok Sabha MP, Ms Pratibha Singh, has said that Himachal Pradesh is emerging an industrial hub in the north that will go a long way in solving the problem of unemployment in the state.

Presiding over the annual functions of Government Postgraduate Valabh College here, Ms Pratibha Singh said the government was setting up an industrial training institute (ITI) in each constituency.

“The ITIs will provide job-oriented technical training to the rural youth. Big industrial units have come up in the state to absorb the trained manpower of ITIs,” she added.

Ms Pratibha Singh said the government had ensured that new industrial units and hydropower projects ensured 70 per cent local employment. This would help solve the problem of unemployment as Himachal was becoming an industrial hub as big units had come up in the state over the past few years, she added.

Dharamsala, January 31
Quite a commotion was caused when the residents of the Khaniara area, near here, sighted a suspected unidentified flying object (UFO) on top of the Indrunag hills in the Dhauladhar range Saturday night. Villagers assembled in large numbers from the adjoining hamlets to have a glimpse of the UFO.

Mr Krishan Kapoor, former MLA, told The Tribune that the villagers sighted the UFO around 1:30 am. Some of them drew the conclusion that these could be flames emerging from a minor volcanic eruption. A delegation of residents of the area also met with Deputy Commissioner Bharat Khera, demanding constitution of a committee to probe into the entire episode.

However, the incident ended in an anti-climax today with the Deputy Commissioner issuing a statement clarifying that the suspected UFO was in fact solar lights installed atop a common place of worship of the Army’s 9 Core. The lights, when seen from a distance, appeared to be blinking. The solar lights, said Mr Khera, were situated at an altitude of 9,100 feet for the convenience of Army personnel and the local residents living atop the hill.

The lights have been put up on a trial basis and some more would be installed there shortly. These also serve as a guide for the aircraft and choppers passing over the hilltop.

Shimla, January 31
The record for warmest January night here was broken today when the minimum temperature touched 12.1°C here.

Mercury had earlier touched the previous record of 11.2 °C on three occasions — January 21, 1990, January 28, 1991 and January 30, 2006. The record of minimum temperature in January was equalled yesterday, which was finally broken today.

Incidentally, the record for the warmest day in January was broken yesterday when the maximum temperature touched at 21.4 °C.

Prior to this, the record for the warmest day in the month was set on January 24, 1990 when the mercury touched 20.7 °C. Today’s minimum temperature of 12.1 °C was 10.1 degrees higher than normal for this time of the year.

At the same time, the maximum temperature today — 21.2 °C — was 12.9 degrees higher than normal.

Shimla, January 31
It is once again going to be back to the British era when it was mandatory to paint the rooftops of every house green or red.

The Municipal Corporation (MC) today amended the building bylaws and sent them to the government for approval at its monthly meeting. As per the amendment, it will be mandatory for all houses within the municipal limits to paint their roofs red or green, a practice religiously followed by the British.

From now onwards it will be binding on the owner or the occupant to paint the rooftop in one of the two prescribed colours. This is being done as part of the beautification campaign so that there is some uniformity and the old, worn out, rusty roofs look nice.

Besides, the MC turned down a proposal to lay water pipes to give supply to IAS Colony in Panthaghatti.

After lengthy discussions the House decided that water would be supplied to the IAS Colony only after water from the Giri was received. Councillors also objected to the proposal to enforce Town and Country Planning (TCP) Act within the MC limits and as such the matter was referred back to the government for clarification.